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Glanbia will pay its member milk suppliers a base price of 28.46c/l excluding VAT for March manufacturing milk supplies at 3.6% butterfat and 3.3% protein.
The interim market payment of 1c/l that was paid by Glanbia Ireland on January and February milk supplies will not be paid for March, a spokesperson for Glanbia said.
Support payment
The board of Glanbia Co-op has decided to make a support payment to members of 0.47c/l excluding VAT.
Including the support payment, suppliers will receive a price of 28.93c/l, excluding VAT.
The spokesperson said that the Glanbia Ireland payments and the Glanbia Co-op support payment will be adjusted to reflect the actual constituents of milk delivered by suppliers.
Reflect current market returns
Glanbia chair Martin Keane said Glanbia Ireland has maintained its base price of 28.46/l excluding VAT to reflect current market returns.
“While global milk supply growth is lower than previous years and oil prices have increased, market demand in some regions is being adversely affected by challenges that include lower economic growth, Brexit and trade wars.
“Butter prices have weakened and the market is currently working through the large volume of intervention powder stocks that were purchased late last year. The board will continue to monitor developments on a monthly basis,” he said.
On Friday the board of Lakeland Dairies set a base milk price of 29.68c/l excluding VAT for March supplies. Lakeland also included a lactose bonus of 0.26c/l excluding VAT, bringing the price to 29.94c/l, excluding VAT.
Commenting on the price, the a spokesperson for the co-op said that there continues to be weakness in the European markets, especially for butters and powders, driven by the considerable uncertainty around Brexit.
"There are persistently high volumes of dairy products in storage across Europe while the fluctuations in the euro – sterling exchange rates are a significant contributing factor at present.
“Separately, the Global Dairy Trade (GDT) in New Zealand has been a positive, albeit from a lower base, and the society will continue to monitor the markets closely in order to return the highest possible price to our farmers in line with market returns," the spokesperson said.
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