November saw the first increases on base price in 12 months, with anywhere from 1p/l to 3p/l being added to milk prices across all processors.

Winter bonus payments were also made by all processors, bringing the average starting price across the board to 32.52p/l, almost 3p/l higher than the October average.

The variation in base prices across processors, along with a range of winter bonus payments, means there are plenty of positional changes to our milk league analysis for a one million-litre producer (see Table B).

The outlined prices are calculated across three different milk qualities shown in Table 1 on the opposite page.

High solids

For high solids milk, prices averaged 36.33p/l across the board, up from 33.35p/l in the previous league.

Tirlán moves up four places to finish out in front, paying 38.3p/l under its hybrid payment model.

Dale Farm drops to second with Lakeland Dairies climbing three spots to third.

Aurivo and Leprino Foods both slip two places to fourth and fifth, respectively, with Strathroy down three places to sixth.

Average solids

For milk at average milk solids, prices across the board averaged 35.59p/l, which is almost 3p/l above the October average.

Tirlán again moves back on top, gaining four places from October’s league, leaving Dale Farm in second with Lakeland moving up to third.

In the bottom half of the table, Aurivo finishes in fourth with Leprino Food and Strathroy rounding out the table.

Rolling 12 months

Despite finishing second in the November league table, Dale Farm continues to lead our analysis of milk prices for a one million-litre producer over the 12-month period ending November 2023 for both high and average solids milk.

It is the second league in succession that Dale Farm tops the rolling league table with Tirlán in second across all milk qualities.

For high and average solids, there are no positional changes on the previous month. On low solids milk, Strathroy continues to pay the highest prices over the last 12 months.