October is the second month in a row, and third occasion this year, that there was an across-the-board increase in base price from all milk processors in NI.

Price increases ranged from 0.4p/l by Lakeland Dairies up to the 1p/l from Dale Farm and Glanbia Ireland. With winter bonuses included where applicable, the average base price across all processors is 31.97p/l, making it the highest average recorded since April 2014.

For a 1m litre supplier, Dale Farm leads on price paid for October milk produced at three different qualities, as outlined in Table B.

The milk qualities used to calculate each milk price are detailed in Table 1 on the opposite page and assume milk is collected on alternate days.

On good quality milk, the average price across all processors was 35.69p/l, up 2.2p/l from the corresponding figure in the September league.

Dale Farm climbs two places and leads the pack on 37.08p/l, which is 2.67p/l above Lakeland at the opposite end of the table.

Both Aurivo and Glanbia Cheese climb three places to finish second and third respectively, overtaking Glanbia Ireland/Fivemiletown which slips to fourth. Strathroy moves up one place to sixth.

Average quality

For average quality milk, which is more likely to actually reflect farmgate prices in NI, base price across all processors averaged 34.48p/l, up 2p/l from September.

Again, there have been significant positional changes due to winter bonus payments. Dale Farm climbs two places and leads on 35.9p/l, ahead of Glanbia Cheese in second.

Aurivo gains three places to finish third, while Glanbia Ireland slips three places to fourth with Strathroy and Lakeland rounding out the table.

Shown in Table C are the 12-month rolling average milk prices paid to a 1m litre producer to October 2021.

Having dominated the milk league in 2021, Glanbia Ireland overtakes Lakeland to lead on price for good quality milk. Lakeland is now in third, with Dale Farm up to fourth.

Glanbia Ireland continues to dominate the rolling 12 month price table for average quality milk. It has now led this analysis for 23 months in a row, having paid an average of 31.25p/l over the last year.

All remaining positons are unchanged from the previous milk league. The gap from top to bottom has widened slightly to 0.87p/l.

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