The Ornua Purchase Price Index (PPI) fell in April 2016 to 81.4 points, falling for a thirteenth consecutive time.

The monthly indicator of market returns on dairy products (butter, cheese and whole milk powder) sold by Ornua is back 17.69% on April 2015.

On April 2014, the PPI is back 36.75%. In March this year, the PPI dropped to 84.2 points and in February it fell to 85.4 points.

Ornua

The Ornua PPI for April 2016

Earlier this week, it was found that Irish dairy farmers were paid the third lowest milk price of all Member States in March.

The latest figures from the Milk Market Observatory (MMO) show that Irish farmers were paid a base milk price for raw milk collections of just 22.7c/L (excluding co-op support payments), only higher than both Latvia and Lithuania.

The MMO data also shows that the Irish raw March milk price is down considerably on the same month in 2015, with prices back by 6.45c/L or 22%.

It shows that dairy farmers in Cyprus were paid the highest price at 54.70c/L, while the majority of continental raw milk was purchased between 26-28c/L, with the exception of Poland’s milk price of 24.97c/L.

The MMO data also shows that the EU average farm gate milk price decreased by 4% in March 2016, to 28.1c/kg or 27.29c/L.

Furthermore, the average raw milk price of Member States declined by 11% during March on the corresponding period in 2015.

It shows that Irish dairy farmers faced a 22% lower milk price this March compared to the same month in 2015.

And, UK and Dutch dairy farmers were hit with price cuts of 15% and 16% respectively, while the German raw milk price declined by 11%.