IFA dairy chair Stephen Arthur has said milk processors must pay farmers a better price that is representative of the market returns on dairy products.

“While the PPI continues to return solid milk prices, processors are reluctant to pass it back to farmers. It’s about time the processors reflected what the market is paying,” the dairy chair stated.

The comments came after the Ornua Purchase Price Index (PPI) for June rose over three points to 119.9.

When adjusted to include the Ornua value payment, the PPI indicates an equivalent farmgate price of 38.11c/l, according to the IFA.

These new figures show that the PPI-based farmgate milk price has climbed 4.3c/l this year to date from the 33.88c/l that the IFA calculated as January’s PPI milk price equivalent.

The IFA has also said that in the past 12 months, the Ornua PPI has only dropped once, with 11 months showing gains in the market returns on dairy products.