Dairy farmers are being short-changed by up to €60/cow, with almost a 3c/l difference in what the market is returning to Ornua and what milk processors paid dairy farmers for July supplies.

This is the biggest gap in price there has been since the start of the year.

The Irish Farmers Journal has converted what Ornua, the central milk marketing body, got from the market for product into an equivalent milk price and compared that to our monthly milk league prices, which shows what dairy farmers have been paid.

Comparing the average difference that has existed since the start of the year and modelling it on a 500,000-litre seasonal supplier, the average price paid by co-ops is €60/cow less than the average equivalent milk price that Ornua publishes monthly.

Irish milk processors don’t sell all their product through Ornua, but the majority of cheese and butter is sold through the body.

Dairy co-ops appear to be either building cash reserves for the second half of the year, shoring up balance sheets or are failing to extract the same margin from the market for product sold direct.