NI’s largest milk processor, Lakeland Dairies, has left its base price unchanged at 39.8p/l for milk produced in May, but paid an “unconditional bonus” of 0.5p/l to suppliers.

That takes the Lakeland starting point to 40.3p/l, before adjustments for milk quality and ahead of the base price set by Strathroy of 40p/l, which is down 1p/l on April.

Tirlán also confirmed on Wednesday that it was taking 1p/l off its NI price, leaving it at 39.9p/l, while Leprino is down by the same amount, leaving its base at 39.75p/l.

However, Dale Farm has held at a base of 41.8p/l to include a 0.3p/l loyalty bonus. While there are transport charges to come off that price (which typically average around 0.3p/l), it still leaves Dale Farm ahead of others on base price.

The co-op has also confirmed it is retaining the value it puts on each 0.01% incremental change in butterfat and protein at 0.041p/l and 0.067p/l respectively for the second quarter of its milk year, which runs to the end of September 2025.

Those new payment increments were introduced from 1 April 2025, with the board of Dale Farm committing to review the values on a quarterly basis throughout the year.

Unlike NI, which operates retrospective pricing, in Britain most processors have now set prices for June, with most indications pointing to relatively steady returns over the coming months.

The Arla price for conventional milk is unchanged at 48.02p/l and other than a currency adjustment of 0.25p/l made in April, that price has been unchanged since the start of the year.

Similar

It is a similar picture at Muller which has held at 42.25p/l since the autumn of 2024. First Milk had kept price unchanged at 45.35p/l since December 2024. However, it is implementing a 0.5p/l reduction from 1 June, taking the price to 44.85p/l.

Those prices in Britain are for milk produced at a base of 4.2% butterfat and 3.4% protein, and before transport charges are applied.

In terms of the average across all processors, official data recorded by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) suggests NI milk prices have been ahead of those paid in Britain since last August 2024.

However, with winter bonuses in NI dropping off, that trend was reversed in the most recent data published for March 2025.