Meadow Foods are dropping their milk price by 0.75ppl from February 1. This follows Dairy Crest’s recent decision to drop theirs by 0.75ppl from February 1. South Caenarfon Creameries have also reduced their price by 1.2p/litre to 28.81p/litre.

They have blamed this on the fact that milk volumes are running at increased levels for the time of year, adding further negative pressure to the market.

Defra has also republished milk production figures for every month in 2017, showing an increase in volumes across the board.October 2017 volumes increased to 1155 million litres, a rise of 2.7% on the previous month.

The UK average farm-gate milk price for October 2017 was 31.61 pence per litre (ppl) representing a 4.0% (1.21 ppl) increase on September 2017, 31% (7.41 ppl) higher than the same month last year.

Mark Chantler, chief executive at Meadow Foods, said: “We regret that we have reduced our price to reflect the volatile market conditions.

“We are working hard to reduce some of the effects of market volatility by further developing our sales through an extended product range and reach as well as working with our producers to help mitigate the impact.

“We hope the market stabilises in the near term but will continue to monitor the situation very closely.”