Aurivo chief executive Aaron Forde believes there is no big demand event ahead that will support milk price and warns “we need to be very cautious on milk price through the peak and beyond”.

He said he would be quite surprised if intervention doesn’t open again and questioned if the ceiling of 109,000t is enough in the current year.

He said the milk price to date has mainly been supported on the fat side by butter and a strong performance in cream. He said the protein side has not recovered to the same extent and is affected in the main by the large overhang of 350,000t of skim in intervention.

Listen to "Looking at the outlook for milk prices in 2017 with Aurivo's CEO" on Spreaker.

He added that this is not helped by a recovery in milk supply in the EU, better milk output in New Zealand and very strong milk output in the US which is affecting market sentiment. Forde was speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal on the announcement of the co-op’s financial results, which saw profits rise profits rise 25% in 2016.

GDT

The latest auction at the Global Dairy Trade (GDT) has seen the prices rise by 1.6%.

Prices for whole milk power (WMP) increased by 2.4%, with an average WMP price of $2,924.

Read more

Strong year at Arrabawn as profits double