Lakeland Dairies has announced its milk price for supplies in April, confirming a further cut in its offering to suppliers.
The board of the co-operative has decided to reduce its price by 4c/L, bringing the figure to 38.85c/L including VAT, for milk at 3.6% fat and 3.3% protein.
This compares to a price of 42.85c/L for milk supplied in March.
The April price includes an input support payment of 1.5c/L, inclusive of VAT, for all suppliers.
In Northern Ireland, Lakeland has reduced the milk price by 3.5p/L to 31.5p/L, compared to 35p/L for last month’s price.
The Northern Irish price also includes a supplementary input support payment of 1.5p/L.
Lakeland said that these prices reflect “ongoing market conditions”.
“The balance of global supply and demand remains outweighed by a stronger level of supply with reduced market returns a continuing factor based on modest demand from buyers,” the co-operative said in a statement.
“The overall inflationary climate continues to affect consumer sentiment and buying patterns.
“Lakeland Dairies will strive consistently to pay the highest milk price feasible, as sustainably as possible, and despite ongoing uncertainty in the current market conditions. The co-operative is continuing to monitor market developments closely,” the statement added.
Lakeland’s price comes the day after Ornua announced it purchase price index (PPI) for March.
The latest Ornua PPI has continued the downward trend seen in recent months, with the figure for March announced yesterday (Tuesday, May 9).
The PPI for the month of April is 126.7, down from 136.8 for March.
Estimated member co-operative processing costs of 7.7c/L (excluding any allowance for processor margins) for the Ornua product portfolio implies a return price of 37.6c/L including VAT.
This is down from the 41.1c/L price reflected in last month’s index figure.
The energy cost element of co-op processing costs is variable month-on-month and changes depending on energy costs.
Ornua also announced that the value payment to member co-ops for the month of April is €7.1 million, which equates to 5.1% of gross purchases in the month (2.9% year-to-date).