Milk Prices April 17, 2015 12:00 am GDT Auction Falls Again The latest Global Dairy Trade (GDT) auction on the 15th April contained further bad news for dairy farmers. The overall index price fell by 3.6% to $2,620 per tonne. This comes on top if a fall of 10.8% at the 1st April event. The weighted average price is now approaching the lows it reached in December, before its New Year ‘recovery’. Additional quantities of product being offered is one of the reasons behind the fall. Additionally, buyers seem to be holding off, waiting to see what happens in the northern hemisphere milk flush – particularly in Europe with the end of quotas. UK Production The UK produced 5.2% more milk in the 2014/15 milk year than the year before. The provisional figures from the RPA show that wholesale deliveries for the year were 14,394m litres – the highest figure for over 20 years. Most of the increase was seen in the first part of the year (when milk prices were high). Since the autumn the scale of year-on-year uplifts has declined. It seems probable that the 2015/16 year will see lower output. Protected Cheese Another UK cheese has joined the EU list of protected foods. Traditional Ayrshire Dunlop has been added to the PGI (Protected Geographical Indications) register. Only cheese produced from Ayrshire cows in the Parish of Dunlop to a defined specification will be allowed to use the name.
