Milk price prospects looking good – DairyCo

DairyCo Datum’s latest look at the markets shows most UK commodity prices increased in April. Butter prices rose by £400 (15 per cent) between March and April to reach £3,000/tonne.

Bulk cream prices stood at an average of £1,300/tonne in April, reflecting an increase of 6 per cent or £75/tonne from the previous month.

In the protein market, UK and EU prices also rose in April, helped by a buoyant world market and tight supplies from Oceania.

Whey powder prices increased 16 per cent to £678/tonne while SMP rose in April by 3 per cent to average £1,900/tonne.

The market indicator AMPE, which measures returns from milk manufactured into butter and SMP, increased by 2.5ppl (10 per cent) to 28.0ppl in April.

In the cheese market, although the price of mature Cheddar remained unchanged at £2,950/tonne, the price of mild Cheddar increased for the first time since November 09 by £50/tonne (2 per cent) to £2,650/tonne.

In fact cheddar supplies are generally tight in the EU and on top of that, domestic demand is reportedly on the increase.

This, along with the rise in butter and whey powder prices, led MCVE (the market indicator for returns from milk for cheese production) to rise by 5 per cent (1.38ppl) to 29.01ppl.

“On balance, the market is likely to remain firm in the next few months, which would normally lead to a rise in farmgate prices,” says the Datum report.

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