On Friday, German processing giant Muller announced another price rise for suppliers from February. From 1st February Müller suppliers will receive a 1.25 pence per litre price increase. This follows a a 2.5ppl rise in January.

Non aligned farmers will also benefit from a separate additional retail supplement estimated at 0.82ppl for February. When added to the standard litre price of 26.69ppl this leads to an actual price paid for February milk supply of 27.51ppl. Müller said the rise marks the fifth consecutive price increase for its non aligned suppliers, who have seen their milk price increase by an average of 45% since October last year.

In a statement on Friday, Lyndsay Chapman, Agriculture Director at Müller Milk & Ingredients said,  “This latest increase again demonstrates our commitment to paying a competitive milk price to our farmers. Our business model enables us to deliver a more stable milk price profile and together with our confirmed investment programme for the future, is helping to build confidence at farm level.

“We are concluding what has been a very detailed process to review and finalise our new contract proposals, having taken on board the feedback from our farmers. We now expect to issue contract documents in February, for sign up to the new terms from the new milk year.

“We have also been working on our new representative structure with the MMG farmer Board with our immediate focus being the election of the Farmer Forum”.

Roddy Catto, Chair of the Interim Müller Milk Group board added, “This latest milk price increase will be welcome news for farmers supplying Müller.

“The Board will continue to work with the company to ensure the milk price reflects the market conditions and as dairy farmers we look forward to a more prosperous 2017.