The price of milk in Lithuania has risen by almost 24% this year.

In the first ten months of this year, the average price of natural milk purchased in Lithuania increased by 23.8% to EUR 513.15 per tonne, the Agricultural Data Centre reported on Monday.

In October, the farm-gate milk price decreased by 1.67% compared to September and reached 492.41 euro per tonne.

Large dairy farms selling more than 40 tonnes of milk per month were paid €528.91 per tonne for raw milk of natural fat in October, a decrease of 2.47% compared to September. Large farms accounted for around 65% of the total volume of raw milk of natural fat delivered from farms in Lithuania.

According to the European Commission, the average EU farm gate milk price during the period under review was €532 per tonne, up 12.5% on last year.

The average milk price received by Community farmers this year is 25% higher than the average for the last 5 years. 

The largest milk price increases this year have been recorded in Lithuania, Latvia, the Czech Republic, Sweden and Estonia.