The Lakeland Dairies board has announced its milk price for November supplies at 49.6c/L, with no change from last month.
The base price constitutes of 3.6% butterfat and 3.3% protein, and will be paid for November milk in the Republic of Ireland (ROI) which is inclusive of the 0.5c/L Sustainability Incentive Payment. Qualifying farmers will also receive a 3c/L out-of-season payment.
In Northern Ireland (NI), a base price of 40.8p/L will be paid for milk supplied in November which is inclusive of the 0.5p/L Sustainability Incentive Payment.
The base price has also held from last month. The 3p/L out-of-season payment will be made on top of the base price.
Lakeland Dairies stated that after a “strong performance” over the course of the second half of the year, dairy markets look “a little weaker” for 2025.
“Thankfully demand remains solid but volumes in the large milk production regions of the world are increasing. The supply or demand dynamic will be monitored closely by Lakeland Dairies and we will continue to endeavour to support our farmers as best we can,” the board stated.
Lakeland Dairies
Meanwhile, the co-op has also announced a loyalty payment of 0.8c/L on all milk after a challenging year.
Following strong product price returns and improved milk volumes in the second half of the year, the loyalty payment will be paid on January 15 for all milk supplied in 2024.
Lakeland Dairies’ chair Niall Matthews said that the co-op wants to support farm family suppliers “as we possibly can at all times”.
“As a board we are pleased to be in a position to be able to further support our farmers with the payment of 0.8c/L on all litres supplied in 2024. It will be made along with the December milk payment on 15 January 2025,” Matthews said.
“We were keen to support our farmers who endured a very challenging start to 2024 with extremely difficult weather conditions and below normal grass growth levels leaving margins squeezed.
“Thankfully, as conditions improved, so did milk volumes. At the same time, global dairy market returns increased especially for butter in the second half of the year. We are now moving to reward the loyalty of our farmers to milk production and their co-op over this difficult period,” Matthews added.