The Ornua PPI for the month of May is up to 116.8 from 115.1 for April.

When you include the Ornua value payment, it works out at the equivalent of 35.1c/l excluding VAT for May.

Ornua says the increase is driven by stronger returns from the market. The average for the month of April paid out by the co-ops, like for like, was 32.8c/l. This means the gap between the average co-op payout and the most recent Ornua PPI has widened even further to 2.3c/l.

Co-op boards will meet in the next two weeks to set the May milk price.

The GDT auction result was down 0.9% but, importantly, whole milk powder was only down 0.5%.

The ICMSA has said analysis of current dairy prices indicates a price of 36c/l is to be expected for May milk.