China buying more is only dairy good news

January milk prices held unchanged at Glanbia and at Dairygold Co-op, but a third big buyer, Lakeland Dairies cut its price by 0.5c/litre.

A tenth consecutive fall has taken Ornua’s monthly purchase price index to 85.7, compared to 135.1 in February 2014 — a fall of more than one third in the indicator of market returns for dairy produce.

Market sentiment suffered further on Tuesday when the GlobalDairyTrade auction price fell a further 2.8% — although some observers were relieved that a 5-10% fall indicated by futures markets didn’t materialise.