In the first reduction period (October to December 2016) 43,968 milk producers reached a total production reduction of 851,700t of milk.

The final figures of the second reduction period (November 2016 to January 2017) will be known at the beginning of April.

A total of 4,447 Irish dairy farmers applied to the first phase of the scheme, with a reduction of 74,225t of milk. There were 556 applications from Irish dairy farmers for the second phase, with a total proposed reduction total of approximately 6.4m litres.

The €150m voluntary reduction scheme was one aspect of the total €500m aid package for European farmers announced in July 2016. Of the remaining €350m package, Ireland received €11.1m, which the Government matched with Exchequer funds to create the €150m agri-loan scheme.

There has been a slow but unmistakable price recovery, with the milk market witnessing a rising trend for a number of months

Participating in the General Assembly of the French federation of milk producers taking place in Langres, France, on Thursday, Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan said: “The European Union continues to strongly support dairy farmers in good times and bad. When I took office in 2014, Europe was entering a profound and lasting dairy price crisis. We saw the storm clouds coming. The voluntary reduction production scheme is a measure which had never been done before, but which has been a clear success.

“There has been a slow but unmistakable price recovery, with the milk market witnessing a rising trend for a number of months. EU average farm gate milk prices have increased by 31% since last summer, up to 33.7c/kg in February. Is this a perfect recovery? Of course not. But is it evidence that things are moving in the right direction? I would say yes.”

Irish co-ops

In Ireland, prices set by co-ops have moved upwards in recent months, with all the main co-ops increasing milk price by one or two cents/litre.

However, so far in March all the co-ops except for Carbery have held.

And although it flatlined in March, in February Ornua’s PPI continued its rise of the past few months, crossing the 105 mark for the first time since 2014.

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Carbery up, other co-ops steady for February milk price