The chief executive of Lakeland Dairies Colin Kelly has said that the co-op expects “positive” dairy markets will deliver a base milk price of between 44.72c/l to 46.15c/l (excluding VAT) at peak supply in 2025.

The CEO put the price impact of a rebound in butter markets at between 1c/l and 1.5c/l higher than his peak milk price outlook would have been four weeks ago.

“That is a little bit lower than the price that is being paid, which can be sustained for a couple of months, but the crucial thing is when you get out into peak, I would be more positive on the market than I was four weeks ago,” Kelly told a Cavan IFA meeting on Tuesday.

The co-op’s milk flows ended last year 1.6% down on the year previous, after an “extremely strong back end to the year” that saw milk deliveries up “25% or 30%” on a weekly basis with the same weeks in 2023.

Kelly stated that the co-op’s profitability figures ran in line with 2022, “if not ahead of it”.