The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) has called on co-ops to at least hold February’s base milk price and to not obscure the base price being paid through bonuses.

The association is looking for a 50c/l base price for February’s milk.

ICMSA dairy committee chair Noel Murphy stated that the association has always made the case for more transparent milk price reporting, which means reporting base prices without including any time-limited or conditional bonuses.

“We have always been critical of co-ops ‘disassembling’ milk price and starting to pay elements of what should properly be the base price as a bonus or ‘extra’ that is entirely at their own pleasure,” he said.

“It’s a bad habit and is usually employed to deliberately obscure mediocre base price.”

Qualifying

Murphy’s comments came after both Kerry Dairy Ireland and Lakeland Dairies cut the base price of February milk by 0.95c/l ex VAT, but with the latter paying an early calving bonus and an out-of-season payment to qualifying suppliers.

“Kerry Dairy Ireland should be leading from the front given the goodwill shown to them in December and the very positive start that was their January announcement,” he continued.

“But here we are now - second month in and a price cut. Lakelands are more or less the same.

“On the surface, the Lakelands price announcement shows potentially no change for a farmer for February milk. But when the early calving bonus is removed, farmers are left with a lower base price.”

The dairy chair said that there is “plenty of scope for the base price to not only be maintained but actually increased given the buoyancy of butter in the last couple of weeks” as dairy markets look set to remain strong into peak milk.

“Certainly, cutting the base price at this time is retrograde and unjustified on the parts of both Lakelands and Kerry Dairy Ireland and the other processors must show more ‘backbone’ and confidence.”