04/05/2011

First Milk has announced that from 1st May it will increase the standard litre price it pays to producers in its cheese and balancing pools by 0.6ppl to 26.12ppl.

Due to a strong trading performance in the six months to the end of March, it will pay out a 3% return on members’ investment with the June milk cheque. When combined with the payment that members received in January (which related to the six months to the end of September 2010), this year First Milk is paying out a 6% return on investment for all active and retired members.  

First Milk’s chairman Bill Mustoe commented:  “The business is continuing to turn in good numbers every month and this provides us with the flexibility to make announcements like this one today. The international contract we launched with Eilers & Wheeler has generated a lot of interest and we have a number of other things in the pipeline to build on the strong platform we now have in place.”

Nevertheless, the NFU's The Cost of Milk Production report, published by the Union earlier this year, shows the average cost of production is around 30 pence per litre, which is still considerably higher than farmgate prices currently paid to producers.