Dale Farm has reduced its base price by 0.5p/l for June milk, putting suppliers on a starting price of 32.55p/l.

That price includes the co-op’s 0.3p/l loyalty bonus, but is before deductions are made for transport.

It leaves the co-op behind Strathroy Dairy, as the Omagh-based processor decided to leave its base unchanged at 33p/l for June.

Glanbia Cheese has taken a similar approach, opting to hold its base at 29.5p/l, although it does pay an additional 0.5p/l to suppliers under its new sustainability payment.

Last week, Lakeland Dairies was the first processor in NI to announce a milk price for June and opted to hold at 30p/l.

GDT

There remains no clear sign of an uptake in markets later in 2023, with the second and final GDT event for July seeing butter, cheddar and milk powder all recording negative price trends.

Overall, the index price fell 1% and is now in line with the corresponding value back in November 2020, when base prices in NI were in the region of 28p to 30p/l, inclusive of winter bonus payments.

The GDT has now recorded eight negative results from the last 11 auctions. At the latest event, butter fell 2.7%, with cheddar plummeting 10.1%, while whole milk powder and skim milk powder were down 1.5% and 0.6% respectively.

DAERA stats

Meanwhile, the latest DAERA statistics show that NI milk production totalled 247.43m litres in May, halting a run of 12 consecutive months when monthly milk production was lower year-on-year.

From January to May 2023, NI milk production totalled 1.13bn litres, 0.8% lower than the corresponding total for the first five months in 2022.

The average milk price paid to NI dairy farmers for May was 32.82p/l, down 1.23p/l from April and 9.9p/l below the 42.73p/l paid in May 2022.

Milk price over the first five months of 2023 has averaged 37.6p/l, down from 39.2p/l for the same period last year.

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