The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association (ICMSA) has claimed that average milk suppliers are "down thousands" in the first half of 2026, compared to last year.

ICMSA Dairy Committee chair, Noel Murphy made the comments ahead of the June round of milk price announcements.

He said the expectation was that milk prices for last month's supplies would "comfortably hold".

However, he reiterated that co-ops and processors must be "cognisant of the kind of financial pressures their suppliers were under and endeavour to pass back every cent they can".

ICMSA

Murphy said the contrast between the first six months of 2026 and 2025 will "become fully apparent once the the June payments hit the bank accounts".

"Using CSO data and estimating milk price and supply for June, ICMSA calculations show an average base price 37.6c/L at base constituents for 2026. This compares to 49.5c/L in 2025.

"These results vividly illustrate the 2026 experience on the ground for dairy farmers and with increased inputs costs for the 2026, the contrast and the pressures they’re under could not be starker," he said.

Milk suppliers

The ICMSA Dairy chair said that the 12c/L estimate would "amount to around €31,000 on a standard 500,000L per annum dairy farm".

He added that figure is "hovering around the average yearly income in large parts of the economy".

"If external factors are neutral, then it’s imperative that our co-ops and processors squeeze every last cent they can out of their sales and funnel that money back directly to their farmer suppliers.

"They must know how pressurised their suppliers are – and if they don’t know then there’s something very wrong with their understanding of their business," Murphy said.