After four months of consecutive cuts, Dutch milk prices appear to have turned a corner. Last week, Dutch dairy co-op Friesland Campina raised its guaranteed milk price for July by 0.5c/litre to a new level of 33c/litre.

Friesland said the increase in its July milk price was in expectation of higher milk prices from the dairy processing companies that it benchmarks its farmgate prices against.

Separately, growth in Dutch milk production slowed sharply in May as drought conditions hit Europe. New figures released by Eurostat show Dutch milk production for the month of May stood at 1.17bn litres, which was up 0.6% on the same month last year.

This follows strong production growth of 3% to 5% in the first quarter of the year suggesting milk supplies are slowing in the Netherlands. Overall, Dutch milk production for the first five months of 2020 stands at just under 5.8bn litres, which is almost 3% ahead of the same period last year.

Meanwhile, UK milk production continues to fall this year. In May, UK milk production was down 1.2% to just under 1.4bn litres. This brings UK milk production to 6.4bn litres for the first 5 months of the year, which is down 1% on the same period last year.