Glanbia Ireland has been called on by the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) to keep apace with its counterparts on milk price.
Following an announcement from Lakeland Dairies on Friday (June 11), IFA National Dairy Committee chairman Stephen Arthur had a message for Ireland’s largest milk processor.
Commenting, Arthur said Glanbia “must return the same price and stop finding itself left behind on milk price”.
“The market is delivering 36c/L. We expect all milk processors to pay this price to dairy farmers,” he said.
“Should Glanbia fail to lift the milk price at Monday’s board meeting, there would be a differential of 1.39c/L between themselves and their closest neighbours. For a 500,000L herd, this equates to a difference of approximately €900 [at base price] for May milk.”
“This would be inexplicable, and a continuing embarrassment for Glanbia,” the chairman claimed.
“Input costs are rising rapidly. Farmers need what the market is delivering,” the IFA dairy chairman concluded.
On Friday, Lakeland Dairies revealed that, in the Republic of Ireland, it has increased its base milk price by 1.66c/L to 36c/L, including VAT, for milk at 3.6% fat and 3.3% protein.
This 1.66c/L increase in the base milk price “replaces the unconditional bonus which has been paid successively over several months to date”, a spokesperson for the cooperative said.
In Northern Ireland, Lakeland Dairies has also replaced its unconditional bonus with an increase of 1.2p/L in its base milk price to 29.2p/L.
Lakeland Dairies said that there is currently a reasonable level of stability in the markets for dairy products.