Both Tirlán and Aurivo have confirmed they have left base prices unchanged for April milk, which means that there was no change applied by any NI processor when compared to March.

Tirlán remains on a starting price of 40.9p/l once a 0.4p/l sustainability bonus is added in, while Aurivo has the highest base price of any processor, with the co-op unchanged at 42.1p/l.

Elsewhere Dale Farm is on a base of 41.8p/l, Strathroy Dairies is on a base of 41p/l, Leprino Foods is at 40.75p/l, while Lakeland Dairies remained on a base of 39.8p/l.

Both Leprino and Dale Farm have new pricing arrangements applying from 1 April 2025. See next week’s edition for a full analysis of prices paid in our milk league.

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal at the Balmoral Show, Dale Farm CEO Nick Whelan said that milk markets look to be “relatively stable” over the next three to six months.

In the short-term, he said there were some headwinds on the back of good weather and a favourable milk-to-feed price ratio which has created some excess supply in Britain and Ireland – NI has seen double digit growth in output going back to last September.

However, European forecast is still for less than 1% growth in production this year.

“Demand is reasonably solid/robust from an export and domestic point of view,” said Whelan.