Irish dairy farmers superlevy bill is higher than expected – Agriland can reveal.

The final quota position for puts Ireland 4.4% over quota at the end of March and Agriland can reveal that farmers’ final superlevy bill is €71.2m.

This is some €2.2m above the Department’s initial estimate of €69m – calculated on an estimate that Ireland would finish 4.34% over quota.

The 2014/15 and final quota year expired on March 31 last.

For the first seven months of the year, domestic milk intake has increased by 8.6%, according to latest CSO figures.

As of July 2015, some 4,039.5m litres of milk was taken in by creameries and pasteurisers in 2015. This is up from the 3,719.5m litres taken in in the same period for 2014.

Ireland is set to pay the fourth highest superlevy bill in Europe.

ICOS says the European total bill has been revised upwards to €868m and the most current projections for the 13 countries facing a bill, has Ireland fourth on €71.2m.

Just under 3,700 dairy farmers applied for the Department of Agriculture‘s Superlevy Instalment Scheme.

The Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney, announced the introduction of a new instalment scheme for dairy farmers, to facilitate staggered payments of the 2015 superlevy bill over the next three years.

The scheme is designed to ease the cash flow burden on dairy farmers, who would otherwise have to pay the entire bill in 2015. It followed the introduction by the European Commission of legislation to allow for such payments to be spread in three annual instalments, without interest.

Milk producers who wish to avail of the scheme will be obliged to pay the first one-third of the liability to the Department before October 1, 2015.

The two remaining instalments must be paid by the same date in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

Milk producers applied, through their milk purchaser, to participate in the Scheme.