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March milk price cuts by Glanbia and Lakeland ahead of peak milk volumes have not been received well on the ground by farmers. This is the second month in a row that Glanbia cut its price.
The processor will pay its member milk suppliers a base price of 28.9c/l excluding VAT. An interim 1c/l market payment from Glanbia Ireland was dropped but the co-op’s 0.5c/l top-up remains.
Lakeland cut its price by 0.5c/l for March. Including the lactose bonus its price is 29.94c/l excluding VAT.
A spokesperson for the co-op said that there continues to be a weakness in the European markets, especially for butters and powders, driven by the considerable uncertainty around Brexit.
Unwarranted
IFA dairy chair Tom Phelan said that the “decision by both co-ops is unwarranted. Cashflow on dairy farms is critical at this time of the year, with farmers facing increased costs of production across the board. When you consider that Ornua will be paying a €19m year-end operating bonus to member co-ops, up 27% on last year, you’d have to say the decision by Glanbia, in particular, is completely unjustified.”
This week Kerry, Dairygold and Aurivo announced that they would be holding prices for March.
Kerry Group has held its base milk price for March supplies 29.41c/l excluding VAT. Dairygold held at 29.6c/l, excluding VAT.
The price includes a 0.65c/l quality and sustainability bonus. Aurivo held its price for March milk at 30.27c/l excluding VAT. This is inclusive of an unconditional early calving bonus of 1.4c/l.
Bryan Daniels, Glanbia supplier:
“The cut is very disappointing, particularly when you see the co-op and the other Glanbia businesses reporting higher levels of profits.
With new plants and new joint ventures coming do they really think they are going to get the milk to fill them?”
Maurice Walsh, Dairygold supplier:
“We were pleased to hear Dairygold was holding the milk price for March. We had another bit of good news when the GDT was marginally up and still going in the right direction. At this stage farmers should be getting a fair price. Big processors have the opportunity now to increase prices. It’s a sigh of relief.”
Damien McEntee, Lakeland supplier:
“We were apprehensive that prices would drop after the merger. We don’t want to see the price slipping, it would erode confidence because we took a fair hit through the years on milk price. There is an overhang of debt on farms, everything is pointing towards price stabilising so we are wondering where the cut came from.”
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