It is disappointing for dairy farmers that retailers have moved to cut own-brand milk prices, Tirlán board chair John Murphy has said.

Over the last number of weeks, retailers have moved to cut the price of their own-brand milk, butter and bread.

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal at the Balmoral Show, he said: “To me, as a dairy farmer, it’s disappointing.

“For us [Tirlán], it’s a very tiny part of our business, 3% or 4%, and it’s the poorest performing part of our business.

“It’s an area that’s not actually returning big handsome profits to Tirlán or to our dairy farmers either. I’m disappointed to see that,” he said.

Economic sense

Murphy said that many farmers have taken the decision to exit liquid milk production in the last number of years.

“It has to make economic sense for farm families, for dairies. The message out there is that the dairies are profiteering, which is far from the truth,” he said.

Future

When asked if Tirlán would remain in liquid milk into the future, Murphy said that Avonmore - Tirlán’s milk brand - is the number one consumer brand in Ireland.

“It’s an excellent brand and we’ll stand behind the brand. The private label is more challenged, we’re committed to our Avonmore brands in the coming years,” he said.

Lakeland

Lakeland Dairies board chair Niall Matthews said that from a farmer returns point of view “that what we produce in Ireland, maybe less than 5% of it is consumed in Ireland”.

“The milk price is more related to world prices than it is to supermarket prices, but obviously you want to see supermarket prices at a realistic level, that they’re not just being used as a loss leader to get [people] in the door and at the end of it all the farmers take the hit.”