Glanbia’s milk price announcement for April has been met with with a strong reaction from dairy farmers.
Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) Dairy chairperson Gerald Quain has reacted with extreme disappointment following the processor’s decision reduce the April base milk price to 29c/L.
Commenting on the matter, the chairman said: “With some other co-ops yet to announce their milk price, these co-ops should focus on the Lakeland Dairies announcement last Friday with a base price of 31.78c/L – some 2.78c/L above the Glanbia base.
For April milk, this is equivalent to over €1,100 for a 40,000L supply, which is a hugely significant sum, given the very difficult first five months of the year.
Markets have been difficult over the last six months – but there has been an improvement in recent weeks, Quain said.
The chairman reinforced this by pointing out no change in this month’s PPI index; he also referenced “various EU and global dairy market indicators”.
“With Glanbia Ireland being the largest processor of milk in the country, it is not unreasonable of its suppliers to expect it to return a higher base price and there will be a lot of anger among its suppliers given this decision,” Quain concluded.