Glanbia Takes First Step to Improve Pay-out to Farmers

IFA National Dairy Chairman Tom Phelan said in holding the base milk price and increasing by 0.5c/l the co-op milk price support, Glanbia had yesterday taken the first positive step to improve pay-out for their suppliers.

He said market returns had firmed in recent weeks and months, and would allow Glanbia and other co-ops to improve their base milk prices before year-end.

“We have shown that the current dairy commodity prices reported by the EU Milk Market Observatory, EU spot quotes and futures for February 2020 trade, and closer to home the Ornua PPI, return between 1c/l and just over 4c/l more than the average of the August Farmers’ Journal Milk Price League,” he said (see table below).

“Glanbia and other co-ops will be able to improve their base milk prices over the coming months, and co-op boards, which are currently meeting to decide on September milk prices, must start focusing on finding ways of passing back more of the improved market returns to farmers,” he concluded.