With milk production reaching peak supply in May, milk solids normally reach their lowest point of the year and have less bearing on the final prices paid to farmers.

Shown in Table B are the prices paid for milk produced at three different qualities, as outlined in Table 1 on the opposite page.

All prices published are based on a farmer supplying 1m litres annually with alternate day collection.

For good-quality milk, the parameters for butterfat and protein have been revised downwards when compared to April, with fat in particular reducing from 4.35% to 4.24%.

It means that despite base prices rising by an average of 1.8/l across all processors, the prices paid in May for good quality milk are only up by 1.1p/l, to average 43.81p/l.

Glanbia Ireland/Fivemiletown leads on 45.35p/l and remains ahead of Aurivo on 44.15p/l. Having been placed third last month, Lakeland has slipped to fifth with a final price of 43.61p/l after the co-op added 1.5p/l to base price. Both Dale Farm and Glanbia Cheese went up 2p/l, and have overtaken Lakeland in this particular analysis.

Strathroy remains in sixth on a final price of 42.19p/l.

Average milk solids

For milk produced at average solids, which is much more reflective of the typical NI dairy farm, prices across the board averaged 43.21p/l, up 1.4p/l from April.

Glanbia Ireland remains out in front on 44.66p/l with Aurivo second on 43.56p/l. Glanbia Cheese moves up one place to third, partly thanks to its 0.65p/l volume and 0.4p/l mozzarella bonus payments.

Dale Farm climbs one spot to fourth with Lakeland Dairies dropping to fifth and Strathroy rounding out the table.

Rolling average

Base prices have increased in 10 out of the past 12 months and as such, the rolling average milk prices outlined in Table C continue to edge upwards.

On high solids milk, Glanbia Ireland leads for the eighth month in a row, paying an average of 37.39p/l for the period ending May 2022, up 1.3p/l from the previous month. Behind Glanbia, there are no positional changes for May.

For average solids, Glanbia leads on 36.36p/l. Again, all league positions are unchanged from the previous league published for April.

Read more

Oireachtas committee to push Ornua on fixed milk supplies figures

Agri jobs: New Zealand still calling for Irish dairy workers