Arla Foods amba decreases its March milk price

Arla’s price for conventional milk will reduce by 2.16 pence for the manufacturing litre, taking it to 27.11 pence from 1 March 2018.

Commenting on the decision to reduce the price, Arla Foods amba board director, Johnnie Russell, said: “While this will be unwelcome news for our farmer owners, the challenge that we face is that our price, in common with those or our competitors, has been impacted by the recent dramatic falls in the commodity markets from the highs of last autumn.“

While last year’s increases were driven by fat, the long-term decline in the value of protein since the start of 2017 has had a significant impact. Protein prices are now at a historical low with little prospect of recovery, due to the large stocks held by the EU.

Cheese prices have begun to recover but are still below the levels of a year ago.Butter has also begun to increase but is still only slightly ahead of last year’s prices.Market recovery is from a low level and the overall price of fat and protein combined is still lower than this time last year.

• Manufacturing price based on every other day collection, top quality, one million litres,4.2% butterfat, 3.4% protein

• Arla farmers are paid on constituents via a manufacturing schedule.For ease of comparison, the liquid price is 26.08 pence, based on 4% fat and 3.3% protein.

Source: MilkPrices.com

Arla Foods is a global dairy company and co-operative owned by 11,200 dairy farmers with circa 2,500 of whom are British.

Dating back to 1881, Arla’s purpose is to secure the highest value for its farmers’ milk, while creating opportunities for their growth. With production facilities in 11 countries and sales offices in a further 30, Arla is the world’s fifth largest dairy company and largest supplier of organic dairy products. Arla has a total of more than 18,000 colleagues and its products are sold under the well-known brands Arla®, Lurpak® and Castello® in more than 100 countries.

Arla Foods UK is the largest dairy company in the country and is home to leading dairy brands Anchor®, Arla Cravendale®, and Arla Lactofree® with a turnover of €2.9 billion. The UK is largest market within the Europe Zone, contributing 35% of the zone’s turnover and also comprises 25% of the Group revenue.

As well as being a leading supplier of fresh milk, number one in butter, spreads and cream, Arla is the UK’s largest cheese manufacturer. It has also built the world’s largest fresh milk facility located at Aylesbury that later this year will become the first net zero carbon site of its kind. The UK business has a team of approximately 3,500 colleagues located at its dairies, creameries, distribution centres and head office.