Arla Foods amba’s conventional milk price for February 2019 will be unchanged, with the manufacturing price per litre remaining at 30.24 pence from 1 February 2019 for Arla’s farmer owners.

Arla Foods amba board director, and farmer owner, Johnnie Russell, said: “The impact of the drought last summer on feedstock is beginning to have an effect on production across Europe. In the latter part of 2018, we saw European milk volumes drop below 2017 levels. This has resulted in the commodity markets performing better than expected with butter prices remaining stable, SMP prices firming and cheese prices starting to improve. This has enabled us to maintain our milk price for February.”

Graham Wilkinson, Agriculture director at Arla Foods UK continues: “As we embark on a new year there are four major global trends that will impact dairy; sustainability, nationalism, technology and health. Being part of a global dairy cooperative is a huge benefit to our British farmer owners as we face in to the challenges and opportunities that these bring.

“In the UK, we have had a healthy start to the New Year with strong branded campaigns from products such as Arla ^® BOB and Arla ^® Lactofree, as well as adding value and launching innovation in to new food service channels and stepping up our Organic offering. While the dairy industry will no doubt be impacted by some major disruptive factors this year, dairy continues to be important and hugely relevant to consumers. As a farmer-owned business our strong on farm agenda and initiatives such as the Arla UK 360 programme are key to protecting and promoting our business.”