Lithuanian raw milk prices rise 2% in August but remain 26.4% below last year
Lithuania’s average farmgate price for raw milk rose 2.0% month on month to €360.85 per tonne in August 2026. Procurement volumes also increased from July, but prices, volumes and producer numbers remained below their August 2025 levels.
Farmgate price recovers from July
Lithuanian milk procurement companies paid an average of €360.85 per tonne for raw milk in August 2026, according to Ūkininko patarėjas. The price increased by 2.0%, or €7.07 per tonne, from July. Despite that monthly improvement, it remained 26.4% below the €490.52 per tonne recorded in August 2025, leaving dairy farmers with substantially lower revenue per unit than a year earlier.
The average price for milk measured at standard base composition was €291.03 per tonne, up 0.5% from July but down 27.6% year on year. The difference between the changes in the natural-milk and base-composition prices reflects, in part, stronger milk-quality indicators during the month.
Quality improves as procurement volumes edge higher
Average fat content in procured milk reached 4.14%, an increase of 0.05 percentage points from August 2025. Average protein content rose from 3.36% to 3.41%. These higher component levels supported a base-composition milk volume of 162,800 tonnes, according to the publication.
Lithuanian buyers procured 131,330 tonnes of raw milk in August. That represented a 1.3% increase from July, but a 2.4% decline compared with August 2025. The figures indicate that the monthly price recovery coincided with a modest increase in deliveries, although the market remained smaller than it had been one year earlier.
Producers were credited with €47.4 million for milk purchased during August. The total rose 3.3% from July, combining the effects of higher procurement prices and greater monthly volume. It was nevertheless 28.2% lower than in August 2025, with Ūkininko patarėjas attributing most of the annual decline to the substantially lower level of milk prices.
Large farms retain two-thirds of supply
Data from Lithuania’s PAIS system showed that farms selling at least 40 tonnes of raw milk per month received an average of €402.90 per tonne, excluding VAT. This was about 2.5% above the July level of €392.91 per tonne, but still 24.9% below the price paid to this segment a year earlier.
Large farms accounted for 67.42% of all natural raw milk procured in August, leaving their share of national collections broadly stable. Their average price was €42.05 per tonne above the overall national average. The premium illustrates the commercial advantage associated with larger and more consistent deliveries, even as farms of all sizes faced a steep year-on-year reduction in prices.
Producer numbers continue to contract
A total of 7,159 producers sold milk in August, down 1.5% from July and 17.1% from August 2025. Lithuania lost 1,478 milk-producing farms over the year. This contraction was considerably sharper than the 2.4% annual decline in procurement volume, indicating that production continued to become concentrated among the remaining suppliers.
August therefore brought short-term relief rather than a return to the previous year’s market conditions. Prices and collections both improved from July, while fat and protein readings strengthened. However, the large annual gaps in farmgate prices, producer receipts and active farm numbers continued to define conditions for Lithuanian dairy producers and processors.
