The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) has welcomed the recent lift in milk prices from processors but reiterated that “serious differentials” persisted in farmer’s returns.
According to the Irish Independent, IMCSA dairy chairman, Ger Quain, welcomed the 3c/l increase in milk prices in July.
The highest price on offer comes from Lisavaird, which is paying 35c/l, while most other co-ops have established a base-price of 32c/l.
According to Quain, this equates to a differential in returns of €1,500 for the average 80-cow herd which supplied 50,000 litres of milk in July.
He also highlighted that dutch Dairy Quotations have reached higher levels across most categories once again, with butter getting over €5,500/t.
“The standard butter/ skim milk powder mix is equivalent to 34.1c/l translated back to the farm gate,” he said.
Matching The Market
Yesterday, it was announced that Arrabawn and LacPatrick both announced their milk prices for the month, with Arrabawn maintaining the base 32c/l while LacPatrick increased its offering by 1c/l to match the same price.
Last week, Lakeland Dairies announced its increased price of 32.78c/l, as well as introducing a €20/t discount on every tonne of fertiliser bought by milk suppliers and shareholders.
Kerry Group recently announced its own increased base milk price for July, in addition to revealing plans to introduce a new payment scheme for its milk suppliers.
Glanbia has also announced that it will pay its member milk suppliers 32c/l, including VAT, adding a 1c/l bonus on top of its 31c/l base price for June.
All groups have said that the increase in price comes from the unruly weather conditions since the start of the year which has put numerous strains on farmers.
© 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.
