Arla holds milk price for June

Arla is holding its farmer members’ milk prices for June, at 30.23p/litre for a manufacturing litre for conventional milk and 41.98p for organic supplies.

This is based on every-other-day collection of a minimum 1m litres of top quality band milk at 4.2% butterfat and 3.4% protein.

The Arla move is the fifth consecutive monthly price hold for the group’s 2,500 UK farmer members. It follows a 0.3p/litre cut by UK co-op First Milk for June, taking its farmgate liquid contract price to 27.45p/litre and those on a manufacturing contract to 28.37p/litre.

See also: Outlook 2019 – rising dairy costs call for efficiencies

This was the first cut for the farmer-owned co-operative since February, when it reduced the price paid by 0.25p/litre in response to downward pressure on cheese markets.

The UK continues to see strong growth in milk volumes compared to last year, however, overall European milk volumes remain at the same level, said Arla Foods amba board director and farmer owner, Johnnie Russell.

The organic sector was under pressure in some European markets, he said. Milk powder prices were steady, with strong global demand underpinning the market; continuing uncertainty in Europe was holding back fat prices, and cheese prices had cautiously started to move positively over the past few weeks.