Minimal change in prices for 1m-litre suppliers

With most processors holding base quotes, the prices paid in our monthly leagues for 1m-litre suppliers are little changed in February 2025 when compared to the previous month.

The prices shown in Table B are calculated at the three milk qualities highlighted in Table 1 on the opposite page. These are similar to those used in our January league, with only a small upward adjustment made for butterfat.

As a result, the leading milk price paid by Tirlán across all three milk qualities is up marginally on what it paid for January milk. For high-solids milk, the Tirlán price of 49.73p/l is now over 2p/l ahead of its nearest rivals in Lakeland and Dale Farm. That large gap is partly down to the decision by Lakeland to cut 1p/l off its base price and also due to the fact that Tirlán’s A+B-C payment model rewards high-solids milk. For average quality milk, Tirlán is 1.37p/l ahead of Dale Farm in second, while for low solids, this gap drops to 0.72p/l.

Despite the 1p/l cut to base, the Lakeland A+B-C payment model helps keep the co-op in second place for high-solids milk, however, for average solids, Lakeland is down from second to fourth, while for low solids, it has dropped from third to fifth. With no winter bonus payable in February, Leprino Foods props up the table across all three milk qualities.

12-month

Over the 12-month period from March 2024 to February 2025, Tirlán has paid the highest price across high, average and low solids milk. For average-solids milk the Tirlán price paid over the last 12 months is 1.27p/l ahead of Aurivo in second and 1.39p/l more than third. That third place is jointly held by NI’s two largest milk processors – Lakeland and Dale Farm, with a 12-month rolling price of 42.56p/l. The bottom two positions continue to be held by Leprino Foods and Strathroy Dairy.