Friesland Campina, the farmer-owned dairy co-op in the Netherlands, has cut its farmgate milk prices for the second month in a row. The Dutch giant has now cut its milk price by a total of 1.5c/litre over the last two months.

Friesland Campina last week announced a guaranteed milk price for May of 36.3c/litre, which is a cut of 1c/litre on the co-op’s April milk price.

Friesland Campina had previously cut its April milk price by 0.5c/litre from the price it paid for February and March milk. Friesland’s guaranteed milk price applies to an average dairy farmer supplying 800,000kg of milk annually with a protein content of 3.5% and fat content of 4.4%.

Meanwhile, in Ireland, new figures show that milk collections from Irish dairy farms in March stood at just under 700m litres, which is 11% ahead of the same month last year. It’s important to note that Ireland was hit hard by storm Emma in March last year, which had a negative impact on Irish milk production for the month.

Irish milk production for the first quarter of 2019 (January to March) stands at just under 1.2bn litres, which is almost 9% ahead of the same period in 2018.