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Dairy Industry News and Features

Our Weekly News Bulletin is available by email. To receive it please email info@ipmsltd.co.uk.

^{Note, all standard litre prices are those quoted by www.milkprices.com and are based on the following:

The liquid standard litre 4% bf, 3.3% protein, 30,000/ml Bactoscans, 200,000/ml SCC, 1 million litres a year on EODC but before seasonality, monthly profile payments, balancing, B price additions, capital retentions or annual incentive schemes. The manufacturing standard litre is to exactly the same specification with the exception of 4.2%bf and 3.4% protein.}

^{Remember this bulletin continues to be available free of charge and takes the team at Ian Potter Associates considerable time to produce. The only encouragement to keep producing it is a combination of enthusiasm, tag sales & enquiries from our readers.} ^{All views expressed in this bulletin are those of Ian Potter Associates and a shed load of dairy farmers. It is necessarily short and cannot deal with various issues that arise in any detail. As a result it must not be relied on as giving sufficient advice in any specific case. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the content but neither Ian Potter Associates nor Lydia Clare personally can accept any liability for any errors or omissions. Professional advice must always be taken before any decision is reached. For our privacy policy please click here.}

04/07/19

AHDB’s Dairy Contracts Legislation briefing tows the Unions Line on contract legislation

Ian had a sneak preview of AHDB’s latest briefing ahead of its publication on their website yesterday. Its certainly a political hot potato and could easily have been written by the NFU’s and over stamped with AHDB’s Market Intelligence branding. Four pages of the 10 page briefing are devoted to reviewing how legislated milk contracts in Italy, France and Spain operate yet no mention is made of the fundamental basics as to whether such legislation is delivering those farmers a consistently better milk price than that paid to GB farmers under discretionary pricing.

04/07/19

Muller confirms the closure of its Foston Derbyshire facility

It was a forgone conclusion that as part of Mullers £100 million project Darwin it would close at least one factory and it was no surprise that Foston is the one to be closed by the end of this year with the loss of 223 full time jobs. Most of the milk will be diverted to Mullers Manchester or Market Drayton facilities. Regrettably 31 farmers are likely to be served 12 months notice by Muller as a result of the closure mainly due to geographical location.

04/07/19

The Dairy Crest name has been ditched

It hasn’t taken long for Dairy Crests new Canadian owners Saputo to change the signs to Saputo Dairy UK as the name Dairy Crest is confined to the history books. The Dairy Crest name was christened in the 60’s by the MMB who started to sell its cheese under the brand name. Will DCD be rebadged as SDD (Saputo Dairy Direct) which is the same abbreviation for s

04/07/19

Meadow Foods Bombshell notice to find another Milk Buyer

Last week Meadow sent a letter to a number of its producers giving them 12 months notice that they no longer require their milk. Meadow declined to confirm how many notices have been issued but judging by the people who have contacted Ian and alternative milk purchasers it could easily number 50 plus affected farmers. Meadow informed Ian the notices are linked to quantity of milk supplied, farm assurance, milk quality including claiming they have weeded out the “farms we couldn’t take a customer onto”.

04/07/19

Barbers (cheese) stand on August milk price

This means continuation of the standard manufacturing litre price of 28.56ppl and based on a liquid standard litre 27.75ppl.

04/07/19

Saputo Dairy UK (AKA Dairy Crest Davidstow) stand on August milk price for a 6th consecutive month

This is a notable achievement by the cheese processor and DCD which means producers August standard litre milk price of 29.90ppl (manufacturing) and 28.82ppl (liquid) continues for a 6th consecutive month.

04/07/19

Arla to stand on with its July milk price for a 6th consecutive month

This is indeed a significant achievement by Arla who have managed the 2019 spring flush at a constant 30.22ppl based on a standard manufacturing litre and 29.05ppl for a standard liquid litre. For Arla Organic suppliers the standard litre price remains at 41.97ppl (manufacturing) and 40.33ppl (liquid). Note there has been a tiny 0.01ppl currency smoothing adjustment to all Arlas ppl prices.

04/07/19

0.07ppl milk price reduction for Tesco (TSDG) suppliers from 1st August

The reduction arises as a result of the quarterly cost tracker review. The 1st August Muller TSDG standard litre price will be 31.07ppl and for an Arla TSDG producer 30.95ppl. By comparison www.milkprices.com’s standard liquid litre milk price for August 2018 was 30.17ppl for a TSDG Muller Supplier.

04/07/19

0.19ppl milk price reduction for Mullers Co-Op (CTRG) suppliers from 1st August

This results in a standard liquid litre milk price of 29.37ppl

04/07/19

0.5ppl milk price reduction for Dale Farm members for May deliveries

This takes producers supplying Dale Farm in Kendall to 27.14ppl based on a standard liquid litre and 26.34ppl for those supplying Dale Farm in its homeland in Northern Ireland.

04/07/19

GDT Auction more or less stand

Tuesday GDT Auction saw prices down by only 0.4% to average US $3302 tonne. Whilst technically this is the fourth consecutive auction fall, following a 3.8% drop only two weeks ago, it is viewed as more or less a stand on result. Notable prices were: SMP up + 3.2% to average $2430 tonne WMP No Change to average $2969 tonne Cheddar down - 1.

18/06/19

African Swine Fever ripples from China

The African Swine Fever outbreak which was first recorded last August is rampant in Asia with others fearing it is now a case of when it spreads to other parts of the world not if. ASF is reducing Chinas pig herd at an alarming rate and with it comes a significant reduction in the demand for whey (cheese makers valuable by product) a key component in piglets feeds.