Milk production set to fully recover this month
Milk production continues to recover following the late spring, reaching 1.17bn litres in June – 13m litres below last year but 14m litres above the five-year average.
Provisional figures from the RPA put cumulative production at 3.52bn litres – 37.6m litres below the five-year average and still 123.3m litres behind last year. “However, the weather has delivered good quality forage and time to make up for below par forage yields,” said Nick Holt-Martyn, principal consultant at The Dairy Group.
He expected UK production to rise above last year in July, reaching an estimated 13bn litres by the end of the milk year. The Dairy Group’s market price equivalent, based on a basket of commodity prices, increased by 0.59p in June, to 32.63p/litre. This followed a 5% increase in mature Cheddar and cream markets, against a slight dip in milk powder and whey prices.
“The range across the sectors has narrowed but liquid and cheese are still behind butter and powders,” Mr Holt-Martyn said. “Despite the May farmgate average dipping below 30p/litre due to seasonality, UK prices should all be between 30p and 35p by October.”