On pages 20 and 21 this week, Eoin Lowry reports on the financial performances of Aurivo and Ornua for 2015. Although at early stages, Aurivo’s recent entry into the sports nutrition category appears to be yielding dividends. Similar to the results posted by Arrabawn last week, we see operating margins at Aurivo sharply reduced in 2015 to less than 1%. It is easy to lay the blame totally at the doorstep of supporting milk price. However, farmers expect co-op management to deliver a strategy that yields a strong milk price while at the same time generating sustainable profits for reinvestment.

Meanwhile, a 16% increase in the volume of dairy products traded through Ornua shows the organisation can handle higher throughput while delivering strong market prices. The hard part will be maintaining these premiums in 2016 in an even more challenging global market. In the context of co-ops supporting milk price, it should be noted that the enhanced members’ bonus being paid out by Ornua this week equates to 1c/l. It should clearly be passed back to farmers.

Meanwhile, on page 42, the IFA’s dairy committee chair Sean O’Leary calls for a more sustainable approach to milk pricing. He rightly highlights that farmers cannot keep producing even at a loss to utilise processing efficiency.

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