A 3.9% increase in the Global Dairy Trade index marked the continuation of a rising trend for the fortnightly online dairy commodity auction on Wednesday (1 June).
This latest increase will inject hope that farmgate prices will steady. The index has risen since marking 628 in mid-March, to 697 this week.
The EU Commission has also said it will increase the tonnage of skim milk powder that can be bought at intervention prices.
The ceiling has been raised to 350,000t, up from the 218,000t limit, which had been hit earlier this week. The commission had already doubled this year’s original ceiling of 109,000t in April.
MULLER FREEZE
⁕ Muller has frozen its milk price for the first month this year.
About 1,200 farmers in the Muller Milk Group will in July be paid 18.66p/litre for a standard litre, while the 650 members of the Direct Milk producer organisation will receive 18p/litre.
Producers will get slightly more on their cheques from the retail supplement, linked to sales at Aldi, Lidl and Morrisons.
FIRST MILK ‘BONUS’ AND CUT
⁕ First Milk is to pay farmers a bonus to reflect the co-op’s better performance.
Suppliers will receive a supplement worth 2p/litre, paid in stages. The first injection will come in June, with a 0.25p/litre dose.
However, First Milk has cut its “A” milk prices, effectively cancelling out the bonus. After the supplement, farmers across the six main milk pools face a drop of 0.32-0.44p/litre, to between 14.94 and 16.74p/litre for “A” litres.
DAIRY CREST CUTS
⁕ Dairy Crest has cut a penny off its milk price for the second month running. The 400 or so farmers supplying the processor’s Davidstow factory will from July be paid 20.72p/litre, based on a manufacturing standard litre. Dairy Crest has also promised no more cuts until at least September.