The Ornua Purchase Price Index (PPI) indicative price for June has seen a slight increase, reflecting stronger market returns for some products in the month.

The Ornua PPI indicative price return for last month is 45.5c/L, inclusive of 5.1% VAT, for milk at constituents of 3.6% fat and 3.3% protein.

This figure is net of Ornua costs to market, and is an increase on the 45c/L figure for May.

The indicative return was determined from an index figure of 154.7 for June, which was up from the 153.2 figure for the previous month.

The price also takes account of Ornua's estimated member processing costs, which were 9.6c/L during the quarterly period.

The estimated processing costs are based on Ornua's estimate of the average cost of processing the Ornua basket of products, which is not representative of any individual member co-op processor.

The processing cost excludes any allowance for member co-op margins and is updated quarterly in line with variable external indices, and can rise or fall, depending on those indices, with energy costs being the main driver of changes in the estimated processing costs.

Ornua said that its indicative price return for June "reflects stronger market returns in some categories for the month of June".

According to the dairy business, the PPI relates to product settlements/payments for the month and, for reasons of seasonality, is not directly aligned with milk production and payment.

Additionally, the 'Ornua Value Payment' payable to member co-ops in the month is €10.7 million, which equated to 3.7% of gross purchases in the month.

In other Ornua news, the dairy processor has seen a number of wins at an international competition for cheese and dairy products.

The International Cheese and Dairy Awards, which took place in Staffordshire in England, featured some 3,750 entries from various countries.

According to Ornua, the competition is the world’s largest cheese and dairy competition, and was judged by “leading international industry experts”.

The Irish dairy business said it won 23 awards in total, including four “major trophies”, six gold awards, six silver awards, and seven bronze awards.