12 June 2009

2 minute read

Europe

The latest national statistics produced by Defra on UK milk prices and composition of milk were released on 11th June 2009 according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.

Statistics on monthly average farm gate milk prices in pence per litre for the United Kingdom are published for the thirteen months to April 2009. Weighted annual averages for 2003 to 2008 are also shown. (Table 1)

Statistics on the average butterfat and protein content of UK produced milk are published from April 2005 to May 2009 for butterfat, and from April 2005 to April 2009 for protein. (Table 2)

1. UK farm gate milk price (pence per litre)

The average UK milk price is calculated from monthly surveys of milk purchasers conducted in England and Wales by Defra, in Scotland by RERAD and in Northern Ireland by DARD. These surveys together account for approximately 94 per cent of UK milk bought by milk purchasers this month.

The farm gate price is the average price received by producers, net of delivery charges. No deduction has been made for superlevy. Average prices for previous months and years are available at: https://statistics.defra.gov.uk/esg/datasets/milkpri.xls

Table 1: UK farm gate price of milk (pence per litre)

2. Composition of milk in the UK

Average butterfat and protein contents are derived from information provided by milk purchasers via the monthly MQ12 returns to the Rural Payments Agency with additional protein data from Defra’s monthly survey of milk purchasers in England and Wales.

Table 2: Average Butterfat and Protein Content of UK Produced Milk

In 2008/09 the average butterfat content for the milk year was 4.06 per cent, as in 2007/08. Butterfat figures are published monthly by the RPA together with UK wholesale milk deliveries data at http://www.rpa.gov.uk/rpa/index.nsf/home (click on “rpa schemes” followed by “Milk quotas” and then “Latest News”).

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