Official figures from DAERA show that the average NI milk price in September was 31.02p/l, a rise of just over 1p/l on August.

The price difference between September 2017 and 2016 is just under 10p/l, and to date in 2017, the average price paid is 27.4p/l.

Milk production continues to rise, with total milk deliveries in September amounting to 159.6m litres, an increase of 8m litres on the same month last year.

Total milk produced in NI for the year to date now stands at 1.758bn litres, compared with 1.711bn litres for the same period last year.

Fixed price

Meanwhile, Lakeland has extended the closing date for its fixed price contract to Friday 10 November.

With farmers busy harvesting forage last week, the deadline was pushed back by one week to facilitate suppliers who were focused on field work.

The contract offers farmers a fixed price of 26p/l from April to September and 28p/l from October to March for a three-year period starting on 1 January.

Indications are that there has been strong interest from farmers.

Dale Farm has confirmed that just under half of its suppliers took up their fixed-price contract, which also starts on 1 January and pays a guaranteed price of 27p/l on up to 60% of supply during the trough month.

Auction

This week’s GDT auction saw further price pressure with the index price falling 3.5% to US $3,105/t.

This converts to an approximate price of 31.5p/l before factoring in processing costs.

Butter fell 3.8% to $5,516/t, while whole milk powder fell 5.5% to $2,850, and made up half of the product on offer.

Skim milk powder prices increased by 1.2% to just over $1,800/t, but still effectively remain on the floor.

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