August milk production highest for 11 years

UK dairy farmers produced 1.19bn litres of milk in August – 77m litres more than the same time last year, according to provisional figures from the Rural Payments Agency.

That was the highest level since at least 2003, bringing cumulative production for the year to 6.27bn litres – 488.5m litres more than last year and the highest since 2003. Butterfat content averaged 3.92% for the month and 3.90% cumulatively.

“Conditions remain favourable for milk production in the northern hemisphere and the lack of an El Niño event in Oceania has meant production is progressing well there as well as it moves towards its peak,” said a DairyCo report.

As a result, wholesale dairy commodity markets continued to decline, with weaker EU prices and the strong pound pressuring domestic values. “The effects of current buyer strategies to hold off purchasing in anticipation of lower prices, along with the Russian import ban, means that, for now, there are no signs of upward pressure for wholesale and farmgate prices,” it added.

DairyCo’s milk price league table showed 29 price cuts in July, with the average farmgate price pegged at 31.79p/litre.