2020 is shaping up to be a “tough, tough year” for Irish dairy farmers – but there are glimmers of a lift towards the back-end, according to senior manager for dairy at Bord Bia Mary Morrissey.
Speaking to AgriLand, Morrissey outlined that the international markets paint quite a grim picture for the sector at present.
Commenting on last week’s Dutch dairy spot prices, the manager noted: “Butter was back €150/t; whole milk powder was back; skim milk powder didn’t move – which was kind of good, reasonably positive given the slumps in the last couple of weeks.
However, she added: “Butter is a concern because it was back €500/t the previous week, and now it’s back €150/t – so it’s getting pretty bad.
I think the rest of the year is going to be a tough year. Prices are affected…but you’d be hoping for the back-end of the year and 2021, things will start to pick up a bit.
Asked about possible recovery options, Morrissey said: “It’s going to be dependent on the length of time and when we get back to ‘normal’; and then it’s going to be what that new ‘normal’ looks like.”
‘New normal’
“Because it is going to have changed and I think that’s where each individual market – or each channel in the market – will have to be looked at.”
Noting that the matter will come back to disposable income, Morrissey said the question will be: Are consumers still going to have the same amount of money to spend on food service – or will they turn more to home cooking following the recent weeks of restrictions?
They are the kind of shifts and nuances that Bord Bia as an agency is really going to have to be looking to, to try and see what are the consumption patterns going to be like as we start to emerge from this?
“So, on one side, what is it like now that we’re currently in it? But more importantly are there going to be changes to consumers’ consumption as we come out of this?
“And part of that will of course come back to whether the economy is right,” Morrissey added.