Monthly milk production continues to fall in NI, with statistics published by DAERA showing a 2.2% decline in volumes delivered to processors during September 2022.

Production during the month hit 175.07m litres, down from 179.19m litres for the same month last year, and 18m litres below August 2022 levels.

Since May, monthly production is down year-on-year, reversing the trend from earlier in 2022 when it was slightly ahead of 2021.

From January to April 2022, NI produced 896.8m litres, compared to 881.84m litres over the same four months in 2021.

However, from May to September 2022, a total of 1.055bn litres have been produced, compared to 1.075bn litres over the same period last year, a drop of 20m litres or 1.85%.

Price

The DAERA analysis also reports an average farm gate milk price of 48.29p/l for September, up 0.63p/l from August and significantly higher than the 31.61p/l recorded in September 2021.

GDT

Meanwhile, commodity markets received a timely boost at Tuesday’s GDT auction, with a 0.6% increase to the price index.

It is the second positive auction in succession. However, with eight out of the last 12 GDT events recording lower prices, it still points to a market correction in early 2023.

The main gains this week came on skim milk powder, which rose by 1.7%, with cheddar up 1.8%. Whole milk powder saw a 0.1% gain, but butter fell by 1.9%.

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