Carbery Group has announced an increase to its milk price for supplies in April, maintaining the upward trend across all processors in the last number of months.
The business said it would up its price by 3c/L.
If this decision is replicated across the four west Cork co-ops of Bandon, Barryroe, Drinagh and Lisavaird, this will result in an average price for April of 50.9c/L, Carbery said.
This price would be inclusive of VAT and a 0.5c/L somatic cell count bonus.
A spokesperson for Carbery noted that the price is increasing in line with the strong performance of dairy markets, particularly cheese.
The announcement of this price increase comes in the same week that Carbery confirmed that it will be making a one-off payment to its suppliers on fixed milk price contracts.
In a statement to Agriland, the board of Carbery confirmed the payment of 5c/L to their fixed contract suppliers.
The payment will be based on Carbery suppliers’ annual volumes and will be paid this month.
“Less than 5% of Carbery’s milk pool is covered by a fixed-price scheme and the price varies depending on the year that it was fixed,” a spokesperson for the business added.
Carbery is the latest processor to announce an increased price for April milk.
Yesterday, Dairygold announced an increase to its milk price, with its quoted price for last month increasing by 4c/L to 50.5c/L based on standard constituents of 3.3% protein and 3.6% butterfat, inclusive of bonusses and VAT.
This milk price equates to an average April farmgate price of 54.6c/L, based on average April milk solids, achieved by Dairygold milk suppliers, the processor said.
On Monday, Kerry Group announced an increase to its base milk price for supplies in the month of April.
The processor confirmed that it will pay a base price of 49.5c/L, including VAT. This reflects an increase in price of 3c/L.
This follows on from Lakeland Dairies and Glanbia, both of which announced their prices for April milk last week.
Last Tuesday, the board of Lakeland announced its price, deciding to up its offering by 3c/L to 50.1c/L including VAT in the Republic of Ireland. For Northern Ireland, Lakeland announced an increase of 2.5p/L to 40p/L.
On Thursday of last week, Glanbia announced its price, saying that it would pay its suppliers a total of 50.08c/L, including VAT.
This price includes a base price of 46.58c/L; the Sustainability Action Payment of 0.5c/L; and a new 3c/L Agri-Input Support Payment on all milk supplied in April.