Thanks to a base price that is 0.75p/l ahead of its nearest competitor, Glanbia Milk/Fivemiletown continues to dominate the monthly league tables for a 1m litre producer, and has now finished top of the monthly league (see Table B) for the fourth month in a row.
Table B also outlines the impact different milk quality has on the monthly price. The milk qualities used in calculating the final league positions are shown in Table 1 on the opposite page.
On good quality milk, prices averaged 27.15p/l across all processors, a rise of 0.63p/l on the previous month.
Only Glanbia Milk/Fivemiletown and Lakeland Dairies paid a price above the average, and are the only processors to pay in excess of 27p/l.
Glanbia Milk remains on top, with an alternate day price of 27.9p/l, while Lakeland holds on to the second spot for the second month in a row on 27.62p.
Both processors benefit from a super hygiene bonus at the outlined milk quality, which along with higher base prices, boosts their final milk price.
Despite paying the lowest base price at 24.25p/l, Glanbia Cheese finishes fourth, helped by its 0.65p/l volume bonus and 0.4p/l mozzarella bonus.
Strathroy are fifth. Aurivo also pays an additional premium on milk at the outlined cell counts and this helps the west of Ireland processor edge out Dale Farm for sixth place.
Average quality
On average quality milk for July, price across all processors averaged 25.72p/l, up 0.68p/l from June. Both butterfat and protein are at base levels for most processors, so base price, volume bonuses and transport costs ultimately decided the final league positions.
Glanbia Milk/Fivemiletown stay at the top, while Lakeland moves up one spot from the previous month to finish third.
Glanbia Cheese also moves up one place, thanks to its volume and mozzarella bonuses, with Strathroy moving down two places to fifth. This leaves Aurivo and Dale Farm in joint sixth place.
Having topped the 12-month rolling league table (see Table C) for good quality milk since July 2019, Lakeland Dairies is now joined in first place by Glanbia Milk/Fivemiletown, with an alternate day price of 27.58p/l.
Moving to average quality milk, which is probably more representative of prices actually paid to suppliers, just 0.54p/l separates top and bottom positions, with Glanbia Milk remaining first on 26.31p/l.
Lakeland remains in third, followed by Aurivo and Glanbia Cheese. This leaves Strathroy edging out Dale Farm for sixth place.