A comparison of farmgate milk prices across EU member states during May 2017 highlights just how far Northern Ireland processors lag behind other milk-producing regions.

The information, collated by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) in England currently has the UK in 19th position, with an average farmgate price of 26.73p/l.

However, if we split the NI data, the average price paid to local dairy farmers was 26.39p/l.

This would put us in 21st position in the list of current EU member states, and well short of the EU average milk price of 28.9p/l in May.

Dairy farmers in Britain received an average price of 26.86p/l during May, which would leave them in 17th position in the EU table.

The highest EU milk price during May was 47.87p/l paid in Cyprus followed by 39.17p/l in Malta.

Of the main milk-producing regions, the Netherlands was in seventh position with a May farmgate price of 31.29p/l. Dutch dairy giant FrieslandCampina has since announced that it will continue to a pay a base of 32p/l for July due to improving market confidence, especially for butterfat.

Milk price in Germany averaged 29.76p/l putting it in 10th position. French dairy farmers are also well placed in the middle of the table with an average farmgate price of 28.53p/l in May. Closer to home, the average milk price paid to dairy farmers in the Republic of Ireland was 27.52p/l putting it in 14th place.

This leaves a price differential of 1.2p/l in favour of southern dairy farmers over their northern counterparts.

Also ahead of NI in the table are the likes of Spain, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Croatia and Poland.

While the analysis points to major challenges for the NI dairy industry, it should be noted that dairy processors here are working on slim profit margins, and unlike many countries in Europe, NI lacks strong consumer brands and is therefore exposed to commodity markets.

But with a large British market on our doorstep, processors must do more to move up the value chain, and to do that requires investment in marketing, and it takes time.