Lakeland Dairies closes out 2020 by topping the NI milk league for the second month in a row.

With its starting price unchanged on 30.55p/l, which breaks down to a 26.55p/l base plus its traditional 3pl winter bonus and a 1p/l co-op bonus, NI’s largest processor was in the driving seat from the outset.

After factoring in premiums on milk quality and volume, Lakeland comes out on top for December, with a price of 32.36p/l for milk collected on alternate days.

Milk quality

The prices outlined in the December league are based on milk at 4.17% butterfat, 3.3% protein, 4.72% lactose, 16 TBC and 181 SCC, which are the figures recorded by DAERA for the same month during the previous year.

While using a standard analysis allows for a fair comparison across processors, the reality is that butterfat and protein levels in December 2020 will be different.

The milk quality figures supplied by various processors for the last month point to higher solids than occured in 2019, worth on average an additional 0.4p/l.

Steady positions

Behind Lakeland, there is no change to the league positions, with Glanbia Milk/Fivemiletown still the closest competitor, finishing second on 30.39p/l.

Holding fourth place is Glanbia Cheese, with an alternate day milk price of 30.03p/l, followed by Dale Farm in fifth.

Again, both processors left starting prices unchanged for December.

While Dale Farm’s base price is 0.55p/l ahead of Glanbia Cheese, the Magheralin-based company finishes in front of Dale Farm, due to zero collection charges and a 0.4p/l mozzarella bonus for milk above 3.2% protein and 4% butterfat.

Price increase

As the only processor to increase milk price for December, Strathroy moves up one place to sixth. A 1p/l increase and 1p/l winter bonus put the Omagh-based processor on a starting price of 28p/l.

Moving down one spot is Aurivo, mainly because its winter bonus payment reduces from 2p/l in November to 1p/l in December.

Rolling average

When comparing prices over the last 12 months, Glanbia Milk leads for both alternate and daily collections.

On alternate day collections, Glanbia Milk finished on a 12-month rolling price of 27.14p/l. It is the only processor to pay above 27p/l. Lakeland remains in the third spot, having narrowed the gap with Glanbia Milk to 0.17p/l.

On daily collections, Strathroy is the closest competitor to Glanbia.

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