The Milk League for September doesn’t make for good reading with substantial milk price drops from all milk processors. There is little re-ranking of participants, with the four west Cork co-ops led by Drinagh still at the top. Meanwhile, North Cork, Centenary, Tirlán and Dairygold remain in division three for September.

The only real change is for the price paid, which has dropped from an average of €6.25/kg MS in August to €5.87/kg MS in September, a 38c/kg MS or 6% fall in average milk price. Some co-ops cut harder than others, with Tirlán cutting the most, knocking 53c/kg MS off its milk price.

This was followed by Dairygold which took 50c/kg MS off its price. Most of the rest dropped by around 40c/kg MS. Boherbue and the four west Cork co-ops reduced their price by less than the average, taking 28c to 30c/kg MS off their price for September.

While the position on the league is obviously important, it is the cumulative payment that really matters. As expected, the west Cork co-ops are out in front having paid an average of €246,459 in the year to date. Contrast that with Lakeland Dairies, which has paid the least to date at €236,353 and the difference is €10,107, which is substantial.

The league table ranks processors on the price paid for milk excluding VAT, but including most of the unconditional bonuses such as SCC and sustainability payments.

Some of the processors pay these monthly, while others such as Kerry and the four west Cork co-ops pay the sustainability payment once at the end of the year but we include it here on a monthly basis.

Dairy market

The dairy market continues to be poor with a bearish sentiment driven by increased global supplies. The big problem is that prices haven’t yet bottomed out, even though the rate of decline has eased with butter prices steady this week.

European processors are also implementing severe milk price cuts, with Friesland Campina knocking over 6c/l excluding VAT off its guaranteed November milk price. This is on top of price cuts for October milk of around 2c/l excluding VAT.