Tipperary farming: Milk price shortfall is ‘costing suppliers an average of €2,000’
ICMSA says prices have 'raised more questions than answers'
The shortfall between the Ornua PPI price-per-litre and the average price actually being paid by Irish co-ops will cost the average milk supplier around €2,000 over the peak production period, according to ICMSA.
Ger Quain, ICMSA dairy chair, said that the May price announcements so far had raised more questions than they answered but one, he said, loomed above all others and answering it was now an imperative.
“The co-ops must explain to their farmer-suppliers why they are either unwilling, or unable, to pay their farmer-suppliers the price that they themselves are receiving,” he said.
Mr Quain said that just announcing that you’ve managed to hold price can’t be enough. The least farmers were entitled to was an explanation of why they were now receiving a price that, in some cases, was now approximately 1.5cpl less then the price that the co-ops had already received.
“The onus is not on ICMSA to speculate. The onus is on the co-ops to explain publicly why they are not paying farmers the 32cpl that the Ornua Index indicates as the minimum price that every milk supplier in the State should be being paid. We await the explanation,” he said.
Mr Quain’s comments came as Glanbia Ireland announced that it will pay its member milk suppliers 30.5cpl, including VAT, for May manufacturing milk supplies at 3.6% butterfat and 3.3% protein.
The board of Glanbia Co-op has decided to make a support payment to members of 0.5cpl, including VAT, for May milk supplies.
The Glanbia Ireland and the Glanbia Co-op support payment will be adjusted to reflect the actual constituents of milk delivered by suppliers.
The actual average price paid by Glanbia for May manufacturing milk based on actual constituents, will be 32.95cpl, including co-op support payment.
May milk supplies were 10% ahead of the same period in a challenging 2018, according to Glanbia.
This will result in Glanbia milk payments worth in excess of €100m for the month of May.
Glanbia chairman Martin Keane said: “Glanbia Ireland has maintained its base price of 30cpl. While protein prices have improved in recent months, the butter market has weakened. Demand in many developed economies remains sluggish due to weaker economic growth and trade issues. The Board will continue to monitor developments on a monthly basis”.
The May milk payment will include retrospective top-up payments for milk volumes allocated to Fixed Milk Price Scheme (Phase 13).