Meadow Foods has announced that it will be reducing its milk price by -0.4ppl from 1st May, taking their standard A litre milk price to 27.15ppl.
Simon Chantler, Executive Chairman at Meadow Foods, comments: “We had hoped to be able to maintain our milk price over the spring flush period, however, due to weakened market conditions we have announced this reduction. On a more positive note, Dairy Futures suggest that milk prices should improve again over the summer as milk volumes tighten. We will keep producers fully appraised of developments in the market as they occur and look to return any improvements as soon as we are able.”
Dairy markets are weakening as a result of increased spring milk volumes, particularly across Europe where they are enjoying a very early spring, with some member states already applying to put Skimmed Milk Powder into Intervention. With there already being 350,000MT of SMP in intervention stores this, inevitably, overhangs the market.
Although butterfat prices remain historically high for this time of year, they too have come off significantly since the peaks of late last year, due to extra cream from the increased milk supply.
Meadow Foods is the UK’s largest independently owned dairy group and leading supplier of dairy ingredients to the food industry. Meadow Foods currently handles more than 500 million litres of milk each year direct from over 550 farmer suppliers from across the North of England, Midlands and North & West Wales. The company, founded in 1992, operates from factories in Chester, Peterborough and Holme-on-Spalding Moor and now employs more than 275 people.
