Average Farmgate Price

Latest data from Defra gives a provisional farmgate price for April of 24.91ppl. This is 0.86ppl (3.3%) less than the average price for March. With no formal reductions in milk prices, the fall in the farmgate price is due to seasonal price fluctuations. Annual comparisons show that the April 2008 milk price is 7.36ppl (41.9%) more than the average price in April 2007.

The UK price is made up of average prices from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. In April, the Northern Ireland farmgate price fell by 1.62ppl (6.8%) to an average of 22.31ppl. However, this price is 5.41ppl (32.0%) more than the average price in April 2007. More information on Northern Ireland prices can be found in the backdata sheet.

The average milk producer price is collected by Defra. Milk purchasers provide details of how much they have paid farmers for milk (excluding any delivery and administration charges) and the volume of milk they have purchased. From these figures an average price per litre (which includes seasonality) can be derived.

Farmgate Prices (excluding retrospective bonuses)

ppl	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Jan	18.31	18.77	17.67	18.75	18.53	18.65	18.03	25.95
Feb	18.17	18.31	17.64	18.68	18.32	18.34	17.81	25.65
Mar	17.88	18.00	17.37	18.47	18.32	18.11	17.68	25.77
Apr	18.21	15.98	16.83	17.71	17.59	17.34	17.55	24.91
May	17.66	14.85	15.99	16.93	17.12	16.82	17.53
Jun	18.47	15.31	16.51	17.27	17.30	16.83	18.08
Jul	20.43	16.39	18.20	18.26	18.05	17.18	19.65
Aug	20.63	16.72	18.94	18.49	18.64	17.60	20.71
Sep	20.46	17.04	19.23	19.48	19.46	18.45	23.14
Oct	20.21	18.13	19.58	19.51	19.71	18.82	26.51
Nov	20.04	18.08	19.81	19.48	19.77	19.00	27.27
Dec	19.59	17.73	19.14	18.92	19.27	18.57	26.60
Average	19.13	17.05	18.02	18.45	18.46	17.94	20.66

** Average UK milk price, net of delivery charges and excluding retrospective bonuses and deductions for superlevy

Source: Defra average producer ex-farmgate price (actual price received by producer each month), including seasonality, but net of delivery charges. No deduction has been made for super levy. Prices may be changed retrospectively by Defra.

Defra has estimated the farmgate milk price for 2007 20.66ppl - 2.72ppl more than the weighted average estimate for 2006. It must be noted that this price is still provisional and may change in the future.