Glanbia Ireland has become the first major processor to set its milk price for October supplies; it decided to hold it at the same base price offered for the previous month.

This means that Glanbia suppliers will receive a base price of 35c/L including VAT for the second month in a row for milk produced in October.

This price is based on manufacturing milk supplies at 3.6% butterfat and 3.3% protein. The decision to hold its milk price in September brought to an end four months of consecutive 1c/L milk price increases.

Commenting on the announcement, Glanbia Ireland chairman Henry Corbally said: “While wet weather has affected early season output in New Zealand, the key EU regions of Germany, France and the UK are now reporting higher milk output.

“Consequently market sentiment has weakened. The board will continue to monitor market developments on a monthly basis.”

As well as this, Lakeland Dairies has also confirmed its decision to hold its base price for October milk. Its suppliers will receive a base price of 36.5c/L including VAT for milk produced in the tenth month of 2017.

Other processors are set to reveal their milk prices for the tenth month of this year in the coming days and weeks.

Meanwhile, Ornua’s Purchase Price Index (PPI) continued its upward trend for 2017, having increased from 114.3 in September to 116.4 in October last week.

This represents an increase of 2.1 percentage points in the space of a month. The increase for the tenth month of this year represents the sixth consecutive monthly increase in 2017.

Sustainability certification of Irish dairy farmers

Recently the CEO of Bord Bia, Tara McCarthy, revealed that she expected that 100% of Irish dairy farmers will be signed up to Bord Bia’s Sustainable Dairy Assurance Scheme by early next year.

This was one of the messages conveyed by Bord Bia’s CEO, Tara McCarthy, at the annual foodservice market seminar in Dublin.

We hope to have 100% of our dairy farmers signed up to that early next year.

The SDAS is a comprehensive quality and sustainability programme that independently audits performance at farm level every 18 months.