The move by Dairygold to pay a bonus on all milk supplied during 2019 is a welcome boost to its suppliers’ cash-flow as calving begins, according to the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA).
Reacting to the news earlier today, Wednesday, January 29, of the southern cooperative’s 0.5c/L announcement, which will be made next month, IFA National Dairy Committee chairman Tom Phelan said:
“It shows the IFA was correct in identifying scope for milk price increases when Dairygold and most other co-ops were paying significantly less than the Ornua PPI for much of 2019.
For a 500,000L supplier to Dairygold, this end-of-year bonus on all 2019 supplies will be worth €2,500 – a significant contribution to cash-flow – but also evidence that a better price could have been paid during the year.
The chairman continued, stating that his organisation “has shown co-ops have been conservative on milk prices”, especially in the second half of 2019.
“Milk price uplifts in October, November and December by most co-ops mean the gap with the December Ornua PPI has narrowed, though it remains negative at just under 0.5c/L,” he said.
“In light of continued firming of EU and global commodity returns into January, farmers will legitimately expect further milk price increases before spring,” Phelan concluded.