As can be seen from our main April milk league analysis on the opposite page, there is a range in prices paid from top to bottom place of 2.59p/l. In recent months that price difference has been as much as nearly 6p/l.

However, it is not fair to jump to conclusions based on individual months, which is why we also publish the average price paid by each processor over the previous 12-month period.

The data shows that from May 2025 to April 2026, Tirlán has paid the highest average to a typical 750,000l producer of 38.54p/l. The difference from top to bottom is 2.29p/l.

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Looking back over milk league data, the range within rolling 12-month prices is wider now than at any stage over the last 10 years.

Back in April 2021, Tirlán (Glanbia Ireland) led our 12-month rolling average with a price of 28.48p/l. The price range from top to bottom was 0.7p/l. In our April 2022 league, there was a 1.4p gap between top and bottom, while a year later it was 1.7p/l. In the April 2024 league, the range stood at 1.91p/l and in April 2025 it was 1.54p/l. The other trend to emerge in recent years is a reasonably consistent ranking among processors, with Tirlán managing to stay ahead of Dale Farm at the top of the table, followed by Aurivo in third. Shown in Table 1 is the five-year rolling average price paid by each processor to a 750,000l supplier in NI. Tirlán is out in front with a five-year average of 39.71p/l, followed by Dale Farm on 39.19p/l. The range from top to bottom stands at 1.71p/l. While Leprino is propping up the 750,000l analysis, the company does pay a significant volume bonus to 1m litre suppliers.

Undertaking the same five-year analysis of prices paid to 1m-litre suppliers of average quality milk, shows that Leprino is in fourth, just ahead of Lakeland in fifth. Tirlán is the only processor to pay an average of over 40p/l, with the range in prices standing at 1.84p/l. Between Dale Farm in second and Lakeland in fifth, the gap is 0.86p/l.

However, if we do a similar analysis of average prices paid, this time between May 2017 and April 2021, the range is only 0.55p/l, with Lakeland just ahead of Tirlán and Dale Farm at the top of the table. Across these three processors, the difference was just 0.04p/l.