The German outfit Müller leads the August global milk league with an August price of 37.9c/litre. In close second place is the Dutch co-op FrieslandCampina with a price of 37.7 c/l for August. The US Class 111 price had been setting the standard earlier in the year.

There are some better prices around for smaller players that have a very niche product or market. The map above reflects the prices for some of the bigger players around the world that are dealing in the export markets much like Ireland.

As you can see from the rolling average prices (in brackets), Nordic processor Valio in Finland and the US has the best rolling average prices for the last 12 months.

The Irish processors represented by Dairygold, Kerry and Glanbia in this league have closed the gap considerably on the big European players.

In the spring, the Irish players were 4c/l behind the main global processors and indeed then they were also behind New Zealand (Fonterra).

That has now changed, thankfully. In time, the 12-month rolling price will improve relative to the other players.

Footnote: Prices quoted are LTO prices for the Irish Farmers Journal standardised milk price calculation for August 2017 deliveries at Irish solids for greater than 500,000kg per year, TBC 24,999 and SCC 249,000 cells/ml.