NI milk league: Dale Farm leads one million-litre monthly league

All processors reduced base milk prices paid in August and it is the seventh time that has happened this year.

The average base now stands at 28.47p/l, making it the lowest monthly average since January 2021.

Shown in Table B are the milk prices paid to a one million-litre producer in August across three different qualities as outlined in Table 1 on the opposite page.

For high solids milk, prices across all processors averaged 31.19p/l, down from 31.75p/l for July. However, milk quality is higher in the August league, which has offset some of the drop in base price from the July analysis.

Dale Farm climbs one spot and is out in front on 32.89p/l for milk collected on alternate days, the first time it has led this analysis since October 2022.

Strathroy slips one place to second with Aurivo unchanged in third. There are no positional changed in the bottom half of the table for August.

Average solids

Moving to milk produced at average solids, prices across all processors averaged 30.47p/l, down from 31.03p/l in the previous month.

Again, Dale Farm moves up one place to lead on 31.94p/l, followed by Strathroy, which slips to second.

Aurivo finishes third for the second consecutive month, whereas Leprino Food moves up one place to fourth thanks to its mozzarella and higher volume bonus. That leaves Tirlán in fifth and Lakeland Dairies rounding out the table. The same positions apply in the analysis for low solids milk.

Rolling milk price

In terms of rolling average milk prices over the 12-month period ending August 2023 (Table C) Tirlán continues to lead for both high and average milk solids.

Dale Farm remains its closest competitor and is closing the gap as each month of the year progresses.

Across high solids and average solids, the main positional change has seen Lakeland drop from fourth to sixth. For low solids milk, Strathroy remains out in front followed by Tirlán and Dale Farm, with Lakeland going from second to fourth.

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