Finance Ireland, supported by the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) and Dutch-based Rabobank, has announced that it plans to roll out MilkFlex loans across Ireland.
The announcement was made at the event's launch today (May 8, 2018) by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, who agreed with the nationalisation of the product. Initially, it was exclusive to Glanbia.
Going National
Finance Ireland will offer flexible and competitively priced loans to dairy farmers with repayments linked to movements in milk price.
This new plan will accelerate the initial MilkFlex system which provided €64m in loans to dairy farmer members of Glanbia since its launch in July 2016.
Loans are facilitated through participating co-ops, with Finance Ireland originating the loans backed by finance provided by ISIF and Rabobank.
Benefits
The key feature of the product is that it will provide milk supplier in Ireland with a funding scheme that helps to protect cash flow from the impact of increasing milk price volatility.
It will feature ‘flex triggers’, which can adjust the repayment terms in response to uncontrollable events, like movements in price or outbreaks of disease, as well as seasonality.
New categories for investment are being included in the national roll-out, such as investment in on-farm energy efficiency and renewable energy, environmental investment and agricultural technologies that deliver on-farm efficiencies.
The interest rate charged on the Milkflex loan is currently a variable rate of 3.75% above the monthly Euribor cost of funds, with a Euribor floor of zero (4.18% APR).
© 2018 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Aidan O’Sullivan. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
