Quality-based pricing of milk

Finnish farmers are incentivized to produce high quality milk through a quality-based pricing system. The portion of milk in the highest paid category (Category E) has increased exponentially over the past three decades.

The Finnish quality-based pricing system consists of three price categories: E, I and II. The highest paid category (Category E) contains low somatic cell and bacterial counts, and it cannot contain remnants of antimicrobial drugs or other foreign substances.
 

Table: Quality-based pricing system for Finnish milk
  

Category	Somatic cell count; cells/ml       (3-month sliding geometric mean)	Bacterial count; CFU/ml     (2-month sliding geometric mean)
E	< 250 000	< 50 000
I	250 000–400 000	50 000–100 000
II	> 400 000	> 100 000

In 2021, 96.8% of Finnish milk was classified as Category E. The portion of category E-milk was the highest in December (98.0 %) and the lowest in August (94.2 %). The portion of milk in Category E has increased significantly over the past three decades.
  

 

Figure 1: The portion of milk in Category E has increased significantly over the past three decades.

 

 

 

Figure 2: The portion of milk in Category E is the highest in the winter and the lowest in the summer.