utterfat Scarcity, Strong Global Demand Suggests Further Milk Price Increases Well-justified

 Mr O'Leary said: "With butter prices continuing to rise, returns from EU commodities as reported by the EU MMO for the middle of August amounted to around 40.7c/l before processing costs, and this despite weaker SMP prices.

"Global demand is also strong, with European hot weather promoting the consumption of ice-cream, which also played into the butterfat shortages, and a continuation of China’s rocketing dairy demand growth (+30.1 per cent in value for the first seven months of 2017 to July).

"This has meant that, despite some weakness on some of the protein products, dairy prices are set to remain strong at least to year end.

"In this light, we are clear that further milk price increases are well and truly justified. Between August and December, Irish dairy farmers produce between 35 per cent and 40 per cent of their total annual supplies.

"Every cent passed back for August milk and beyond will make a significant positive difference to dairy farmers’ financial situation after three years of cash flow challenges."

TheCattleSite News Desk