Arla will increase the price it pays its UK members to 25.8ppl.

News should act as a 'wake up call' to other processors - NFU

Dairy company Arla has announced it will raise its milk price for April, making it the first major milk buyer in the UK to increase its price for many months.

National Farmers Union (NFU) said the news should act as a "wake up call" for other processors.

Milk prices have fallen rapidly over the past six months, with devastating consequences for many farmers, some of whom have even been forced to leave the industry.

Arla will increase the price it pays to its UK members by 0.83 pence per litre (ppl) from 30 March. This will take the company's standard litre price to 25.8ppl.

Commenting on the increase, Ash Amirahmadi, Arla's head of UK milk and member services, said: “The markets have shown an upward trend recently, in particular due to a reduction in milk production in parts of Europe and New Zealand."

In response, NFU's dairy board chairman Rob Harrison, said: "At last we have seen a UK milk price follow the upward motions of market indicators over recent weeks. Farmers have been seeing rising wholesale prices almost across the board with no sign yet of this feeding back to milk cheques, but we must see income returning to the farm gate quickly in order to save the industry from further devastation."

Mr Harrison said it is now more essential than ever that trust is rebuilt between processors, farmers and retailers.

Processors "cannot hold on to increasing returns at a time when farmers are suffering monumental losses of income, we must see returns to the farm gate immediately," he added.