Dairy Processors Urged to Reflect Market Movements

This week, dairy markets continued to move in a positive direction for producers, as the Global Dairy Trade auction showed.

The GDT Price Index rose by 6.6 per cent this week, after remaining almost flat since the beginning of June.

Prices increased across all products sold except for cheddar, which decreased marginally. There was a strong 9.9 per cent increase in the Whole Milk Powder price index, which made up around half of the product traded.

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said this week that its July Dairy Price Index rose by 3.2 per cent from the previous month, with butter prices seeing the sharpest rise in the group.

However, FAO said prices remain at very low levels compared to recent years.

Farming unions have urged dairy processors to pass on these gains to farmers as soon as possible.

Deputy president of the Ulster Farmers' Union (UFU), Ivor Ferguson, said the past two months had brought a 'favourable combination of factors' that point to a sustained recovery in milk prices.

"Farmers have faced a long and severe downturn and we want processors to make passing on these gains a priority to boost hopes that this financial pressure will finally ease,” he said.