6th April 2002
News
6th April 2002
News |
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Big superlevy let off
By Des Maguire and Paul Mooney
There was both good and bad news for dairy farmers this week.
First the good news. They will face superlevy bills on just three to four million gallons. This follows a dramatic scaling back from last month's position of 21 million gallons over quota.
Suppliers to Golden Vale and Lakeland could yet escape superlevy. Glanbia, Dairygold and Kerry suppliers will pay bills but significantly smaller than expected.
However, on the downside, milk prices - both liquid and manufacturing - continue under threat as the peak production months approach. Two major dairies, Glanbia and Connacht Gold, want to cut up to 8p per gallon (2.2c/litre) off liquid milk price while manufacturing prices for March will also be under pressure over the next fortnight.
And in a major overview of the industry to be presented at today's (Thursday) IFA national dairy conference in Cahir IDB chief executive Dr. Noel Cawley will predict difficult market conditions for the remainder of the year.
He will state that the global demand for butterfat is weak with little sign of recovery in exports this year. While more milk will go into cheese production we are faced with a weaker market, he will say.
Demand for milk proteins may improve but currently there is little sign of recovery. World market prices for proteins are significantly below EU prices.
With the role of the IDB coming under increased scrutiny from dairy farmers Cawley will strongly defend its performance over the past decade.
He will show that it has increased sales of consumer brands from 26 per cent of total sales in 1990 to 41 per cent last year with food ingredients up from 20 to 32 per cent in the period.
On the other hand commodity sales represented only 27 per cent of total sales last year, down from 54 per cent in 1990.
And in response to advocates here of New Zealand type milk policies Dr. Cawley will show that Irish milk prices have been higher than USA prices between 1990 and 2000 and far higher than New Zealand prices.
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Copyright © : The Irish Farmers Journal 2002 |
