Dairy December, UK: Increase in GB milk production for the remainder of the season

This milk year has been divided into two halves, with the first half lagging behind last year’s production, driven by wet weather conditions during the spring season and the preceding Autumn and Winter months and lower prices. This led to lower yields in the first half with lower levels of forage availability keeping production behind last year. However, the situation turned in September. Higher milk prices and improving margins, along with good grass growth (varied in regions) and much dryer weather that allowed the cows to stay out for longer brought a resurgence in milk flows. A combination of both bullish and bearish factors comes into play around this forecast. GB milk deliveries in September and October were up by 0.7% and 2.6% respectively compared to the previous year. We are now annualising against a year of lower milk deliveries following poor weather. So far, November looks extremely buoyant with milk volumes up by nearly 4.5% in the month-to-date. Milk prices remain ...