Suppliers of milk to Town of Monaghan Co-op, who could be adversely affected by the decision to issue milk payments later in the month from January 2015 onwards, are invited to contact the co-op’s farm liaison officers to obtain help in sorting out any issues.

This arises out of the decision to move to pay suppliers on 25th of the month instead of 12th of each month, which the new chief executive says is being implemented to give the co-op “better sight” of global market prices before setting its ex-farm milk price.

On enquiry by the Irish Farmers Journal, the new chief, Gabriel D’Arcy, said that the co-op is able to assist in various ways in negotiating with feed suppliers or banks and it is possible that any supplier of milk to the co-op could receive a payment in early January equivalent to half of the average monthly payment, based on average monthly milk supply of the past year.

The normal payment for milk supplied in December 2014 would follow on 25 January.

A phased repayment of the advance payment is proposed to take place later in the year, during months of peak supply and/or lower costs, when the milk producer can best afford it.

It will be up to individual producers to contact the co-op about the matter.

The Farmers Journal understands that this special arrangement has been agreed by the board and chief executive at Town of Monaghan, to address the fact that some milk suppliers have commitments set to be paid by direct debit or standing order from the bank, on dates that closely follow the receipt of the monthly milk payment into the bank account.

Some of these automatic payments out of bank accounts could breach the overdraft limit if the payments are made before the milk payment arrives in the account – a so-called cashflow problem.

D’Arcy stressed that the fundamental reason for moving to a later payment date was to give the co-op greater negotiating power with customers and he is hopeful that this will ultimately deliver better prices for the milk suppliers.

He added that this is one of several changes that he has in mind for the business.