Announcement of small milk price step-ups continued with Saputo lifting its farmgate prices for the 2020/21 season, increasing its minimum milk price by 7c/kg for butterfat and 14c/kg for protein, taking its reported weighted average milk price for 2020/21 in the southern milk region to $6.50kgMS, a rise of 10c/kgMS. This followed similar lifts by Bega Cheese, Bulla Dairy Foods and Burra Foods.

Meanwhile the political jousting over milk prices continues. Last week, former UDV vice president and current Victorian MP for the Liberal Party Roma Britnell said processors “were putting long-term viability at risk” with current milk prices. Britnell said if processors failed to pay farmers a fair milk price it would set processors on a risky path.