DairyCo

MCVE

Published 27 July 10

Milk for Cheese Value Equivalent (MCVE)

• The average price of whey powder and whey butter fell between June and July while the price of mild Cheddar remained stable.
• This caused MCVE to fall by 0.56ppl (1.9%) over period, to 29.68ppl.
• AMPE had a 0.32ppl (1.1%) premium over MCVE in July, at 30.0ppl.

The average price of both whey powder and whey butter fell between June and July.  Whey butter fell by £50/tonne (1.6%) to £3,000/tonne and whey powder by £88/tonne (15.4%) to £485/tonne. Mild Cheddar price remained unchanged at £2,800/tonne. As a result of these changes, MCVE fell by 1.9% (0.56ppl) to 29.68ppl.  Annual comparisons show that the indicator has increased by 4.67ppl (18.7%) from 25.01ppl in July 2009.

AMPE decreased by 0.7ppl between June and July, to an average of 30.0ppl in July.  This gives AMPE a 0.32ppl (1.1%) premium over MCVE for the month. For more information on AMPE click here.

For information on how MCVE is calculated please see MCVE Helpsheet. 

It must be stressed that different factories will have different efficiency and cost levels and do not just make mild Cheddar. Therefore the MCVE has not been formulated to be the price that processors should pay farmers for milk for cheese, but merely a benchmark of value that can be used to compare against changes in milk prices.