As the deadline for trading entitlements draws closer, Owen O’Driscoll – of O’Driscoll & Associates Agricultural Consultants – estimates that the trade has increased by about 25% on last year.
The operator of entitlements.ie has a ready-made calculator on his website for interested parties to estimate the cost of leasing an entitlement.
“I’d say there’s probably a 25% rise in trading this year compared to last year,” Owen explained.
The main trade is in leasing; he estimates that sales are lower than 5% due to the clawback.
The sales are insignificant because of the clawback.
Demand increasing
Demand is outstripping demand when it comes to entitlements, Owen noted.
“National Reserve entitlements have come on the market in the last few years. There’s an extra supply of entitlements and there’s definitely a larger demand than supply. There’s probably 30% more demand than supply.”
- €180: 60%;
- €200: 65%;
- €350: 70%.
75% is the maximum percentage that high-value entitlements are being leased for, according to Owen.
The current President of the Agricultural Consultants Association (ACA) hasn’t noticed any major trends in the type of farmer that is leasing entitlements. However, he did note that a lot of business is coming from some of the larger dairy farmers who have expanded.
Owen trades all over the country and a lot of his business comes from the Cork and Kerry regions where he’s based.