IAN POTTER ASSOCIATES 8th January 2016

Telephone 01335 324594

Website www.ipaquotas.co.uk Email Issue No. 842

Today / Last Week / Change / 4 Weeks Ago / 1 Year ago
Producers in E & W / 9,646 / 9,654 / 9,987
£ : $ / 1.46 / 1.49 / -0.03 / 1.49 / 1.526
£ : € / 1.34 / 1.37 / -0.03 / 1.40 / 1.281
Crude Oil / $33.80 / $37.34 / -$3.54 / $43.88 / $55.10
AMPE 2014 / 16.0 (Dec) / 16.2 (Nov) / 19.8
MCVE 2014 / 18.9 (Dec) / 19.1 (Nov) / 23.7

(Commodity and currency prices – source ForFarmers)

For more information about feed prices and market trends visit www.forfarmers.co.uk or contact ForFarmers DML: 0870 0500306

0.25ppl and 0.18ppl First Milk price reductions - from 1st January

Those affected are as follows:

0.25ppl reduction for suppliers to Campbeltown, Arran, Lake District, Haverfordwest & North of England balancing.

0.18ppl reduction for the Scottish balancing pool.

The resulting www.milkprices.com 1st January standard litre prices are:

Liquid Standard Manufacturing Standard

Haverfordwest

(includes the 2.24ppl Tesco winter cheese payment) 20.35ppl 20.84ppl

Lake District 18.14ppl 18.85ppl

North of England 18.12ppl

Scottish Balancing Pool 18.12ppl

Midlands & East Wales 17.90ppl

GDT auction prices down on average 1.6%

There were no surprises in the first auction of the year, which continued to trend slightly down.

Notable price movements were:

Cheddar up 3.5% to average US $2964/tonne

SMP down 0.8% to average US $1890/tonne

WMP down 4.4% to average US $2210/tonne

UK milk production continues to rise

November milk production totalling 1.163m litres shows a 3.8% (43m litre) increase on that recorded in November 2014.

In the first 8 months of the dairy year to the end of November the UK has produced an extra 303 million litres (+3.13%) compared to that produced in 2014 equivalent to an extra 1.26 million litres everyday.

Meadow Foods milk price calculation changes

Meadow Foods will change how they pay suppliers from April 1st with the A price paid on 80% of producers 100% A (quota) allocation with any remaining production paid at the B litre price.

Is this a price cut, a price adjustment that will be more or less neutral or will producers never know the truth?

The reality is just like most, if not all, milk processors Meadow simply has too much milk on its hands and a limited number of resignations and/or farmers quitting. With this move Meadow have decided to spread the risk across all producers making those who produce any B litres plus 20% off the A litres take the pain.

If Meadow are paying the A price on only 80% of the milk it should mean that the A price improves. If that happens the adjustment will be neutral and if the B price is say 15p those who produce the extra litres bear the pain until prices turn the corner and head North. At this point the B price will be the first move and will drag the A price up with it.

Only time will tell whether Meadow’s A price improves on April 1st.

MCVE and AMPE continue to head south

AHDB’s dairy market indicators MCVE and AMPE next month are likely to both hit their all time record lows. The December MCVE stands at 18.9ppl and AMPE at 16ppl (see the table at the top of this bulletin).

Dutch cull cow slaughtering rocket with 1.5ppl premium

Within a matter of hours cull cow prices in Holland fell 15 cents per kg (11p/kg) as cow numbers sent to slaughter rocketed resulting in slaughter houses bursting at the seams and waiting lists forming.

One of the key factors has been the decision by Friesland Campina who are now paying a 2 Euro cents kg (1.5ppl) to members who supply the same or less milk between 1st January to 11th February compared to the base period of 13th to 27th December. It does not apply to organic producers where extra milk is required. The fact is Friesland Campina members are producing far more milk than the company requires or can handle.

US blizzard results in 40,000 cattle deaths

Over the Christmas period between the 24th to 29th December, a blizzard called Goliath in Texas and New Mexico saw an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 cattle die and hundreds of tanker loads of milk fail to be collected.

Most of the animals perished in up to 14 foot snow drifts created by 80mph winds and that’s in what is geographically described as a desert area! Crazy weather.

SFP ENTITLEMENT TRADING

The new year has seen a significant increase in the number of enquiries the office has received for Entitlements.

So much so that prices have tripled from last season’s May close of £80/unit to £240/unit.

If you have any spare English Entitlements please contact Jacquey at the office - Tel. No. 01335 324594 – Email

Snap to it on Snaptags!

Ian Potter Associates has, for the last 3 years, beenactivelymarketing the Snaptag brand of cattle, sheep and pig ear tags. Repeat orders from every customer (OK, with the exception of one) speakfor themselves in terms of their quality and durability. Basically they're the bull's/boars/rams nadgers when it comes to tags.

And this, of course, is the bull's nadgers when it comes to dairy bulletins, which we send to you FOC because we're nice people.

There is, though, no such things as getting summut for nowt, and we strive tosell something on the back of it - hence our plugs for these tags, Pinpointpal vehicle tracking devices, and the occasional request forinformationfor our database cleansing so we know who's genuinely a dairy farmer and who's just pretendin'.

So if you've got livestock and are in the market for tags (and even if you aren't - we're not fussy!) then give us a call!Our general tags& sample tags(BVD) are extremely competitive sowhy not ask us to quote! Go on...you know you want to...

For more information please contact Lydia on01335 320016or email her .

Thank you, and we look forward to your custom and to continuing to be able to send this bulletin out FOC.

All views expressed in this bulletin are those of Ian Potter Associates and a shed load of dairy farmers. It is necessarily short and cannot deal with the various issues that arise in any detail. As a result it must not be relied on as giving sufficient advice in any specific case. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the content but neither Ian Potter Associates nor Ian Potter personally can accept liability for any errors or omissions. Professional advice must always be taken before any decision is reached