Sunshine and superlevy

By Pat O'Keeffe

Beautiful sunshine across the country yesterday (Wednesday) may have been widely welcomed, but it did little to avert a likely superlevy bill as milk supplies continued to roll in.

As we went to press, co-ops were putting together final figures based on yesterday's deliveries on the last day of the milk quota year. The country's largest processor, Glanbia, confirmed to the Journal that they expect to be 1.75m gallons over quota. The company report that over 2,000 of their 4,500 suppliers had filled thier quota and may face a superlevy fine.

Dairygold report that they are likely to be 1.0 to 1.5 million gallons over quota. Final figures were not available from Kerry Group but the indications are that they will exceed their quota, perhaps by as much as 2 million gallons.

The latest estimate available from Lakeland Dairies suggests that the co-op may end the year 800,000 gallons over quota.

Bandon are likely to be 1.5% over quota, while Tipperary expect to be 110,000 gallons over quota.

Town of Monaghan are hopeful that a severe reduction in supplies over the last few weeks will leave them on quota. Lisavaird expect to be on quota.

Restructuring scheme

While final figures are not available, Glanbia expect that 300 suppliers are likely to cease milk production on 1 April. Up to 8m gallons is likely to be available through restructuring, the company's latest estimates suggest.

Connacht Gold expect at least 1m gallons to be offered to the restructuring scheme but have no definite supplier numbers available as yet. They report strong demand for quota purchase.