UK farmgate milk prices

Updated 2 March 2026

These prices represent the average price paid by dairies for all milk purchased in the month. The survey used to collect this information covers approximately 90% of all milk purchased from farms in the UK. Also the monthly AHDB League Table compares prices paid to farmers by different milk buyers.

Overview: January 2026

• The UK average milk price for January 2026 was announced by Defra as being 37.75 ppl, down 2.05 pence (5.2%) on the previous month

• The UK average milk prices for November and December were revised by Defra, the most significant being down 0.46 ppl in November and down 0.49 ppl in December

• Defra has stated that milk price data for November and December 2025 may be subject to a greater degree of revision than usual in future releases, because of lower survey return rates for these months

The GB and NI average farmgate milk prices table and commentary will be updated in March once we have received the NI January 2026 milk price from DAERA.

• The average price paid for milk in NI, in December, was 35.87 ppl, 11.8% lower than the average paid in GB
• Prices paid on non-aligned contracts were 0.93 ppl below those for aligned contracts in December
• The GB five-year average price was 40.20 ppl in December, up 8.4% from the same the month in 2024, when it was 37.09 ppl

UK, GB, NI farmgate milk prices

Table 1. Average milk price excluding bonus

Source: Defra, RESAS, DAERA, AHDB

Average GB farmgate milk price

Figure 1. Average GB farmgate milk prices

Three lines are plotted in Figure 1. Green line = GB all milk, hashed dark blue line = GB all milk five‑year average, and light blue line = GB excl. aligned. Prices stay near 28–30 ppl until 2021, rise sharply in 2022 with a peak around 50 ppl, then fall and level off near 40 ppl. The five‑year average line shows a steady gradual increase since December 2019.

Source: Defra, RESAS, DAERA, AHDB

The original chart can be seen in the Excel download below. 

Additional information

The Defra average farmgate price is a weighted average calculated from information collected on total value and volumes of purchased milk in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

For information on representative prices paid to producers by individual milk buyers, please refer to the AHDB Milk Price Calculator and the monthly AHDB League Table at the link below.

Download dataset

This dataset was produced by our Data and Analysis Team. To find out more about the team, please visit the Data and Analysis team page.

If you need any further help, please email Martin, Dorian, Gavin or Esther at datum@ahdb.org.uk

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