There is now over 40c/kg milk solids or 3c/litre in old money of a difference between the west Cork co-ops and the big players Glanbia, Kerry and Dairygold in the July milk league rankings.

The west Cork parent Carbery cut base price by 1c/l but decided to hold milk price to the farmer by taking funds from the already established milk price stability fund.

Lakeland and Aurivo dropped June price by 0.5c/l which keeps both of them up just over €4/kg milk solids and in a good position relative to the big players further down. Interestingly, they have held this better position right through peak supply.

You can throw a blanket over the division three players, with all of them paying between €3.93/kg MS and €3.98/kg MS or a variation on 28c/l ex-VAT at 3.3% protein and 3.6% fat depending on how they pay out.

Glanbia, Kerry, Arrabawn and Dairygold all dropped the July price by 1c/l on the June price.

To reflect the price cuts, some processors changed the value of fat only, but most reduced the value of fat and protein to some extent.

Butter prices up

The July cuts have come as European butter prices hardened this week and some of the larger European players have held September milk prices. The price for butter rose this week close to €3,400/t while skim (SMP), whole milk powder (WMP) and cheddar prices either lifted or held.

Irish milk supplies in August have dropped back closer to August 2018 levels, bringing an end to the double-digit growth in supplies recorded for the last number of months.

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