Arla moves March milk price by 0.38p/litre

Arla has announced it will increase its March milk price by the equivalent of 0.38p/litre.

This will take the standard price for liquid milk to 27.45p/litre and the manufacturing price to 28.55p/litre.

Jonathan Ovens, Arla Foods amba board director, said: “Milk production in the EU is picking up in line with seasonal trends, although it is still significantly below 2016 volume.

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“Milk production in Oceania and South America continues to decline but milk intake in the USA is growing by about 2%. 

“Markets appear to be stable with continuing good demand, particularly in Asia.

“This is our seventh consecutive price increase and we are the first major dairy company in the UK to increase our price for March. I am confident that this will be well received by our farmer owners.”

The price increase was announced at the same time as the co-operative released its 2016 annual results.

Chief executive Peter Tuborgh said Arla had come out of 2016 “stronger and better than a year ago” with good growth in its branded business.

Farmers were now enjoying a much better milk price and, while a volatile world meant there were no guarantees, there were reasons to believe that would continue throughout 2017, he said.