Milk prices still sliding
Milk prices still sliding
MILK prices continue to weaken, with lower constituent values compounded by the drop in seasonality premiums in December cheques.
Wiseman Scotland maintains top slot in fws last Milk Price Review for 1996, with a price for our standard litre some 4.4p/litre above Milk Marques. But the average paid so far this year is at a more modest 2p/litre premium.
Milk Marque is also poised to raise its milk constituent value by 0.5p/litre from Jan 1, with butterfat increasing to 2.54p a % and protein to 4.27p a %, as part of the move to volume related pricing. But the net price received by the farmer will depend on average size of collection.
Under the new system, costs of £13.50 a day are allocated to each producer and spread across his daily litres. Those with small volumes will, therefore, pay a higher cost per litre than those with large volumes.
For our standard litre (4.1% butterfat, 3.25% protein, 1001 litres/day) this would take the December price down to 22.94p/litre after costs.
There will be a big incentive to switch to Every Other Day Collection, however, as this will pay a £5.50 a day bonus. This would take our standard litre to 23.49p/litre – a rise of 0.35p/litre.