Recently, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine released the results of the final Milk Quota Trading Scheme where 43.4 million litres of quota was successfully traded and shows the demand for quota is still high even though it is entering its final year according to Pat McCormack, Deputy President and Dairy Committee Chairperson of the ICMSA.

“A total 45.6 million litres of milk quota was offered for sale under the scheme, with 2.2 million litres not being sold. Prices ranging from 3-18c per litre were paid by successful bidders. Demand for quota was 154 million litres meaning that only 28% of the volume demanded was traded. This high demand cannot be covered but there remain a number of farmers who wanted to sell quota but did not due to higher price being asked for when they submitted their price”, said Mr McCormack.

To accommodate these farmers the ICMSA Deputy President is calling for a ‘once-off’ trading scheme to be held within individual Co-ops. “The unsuccessful sellers should be given a chance to sell their quota at the market clearing price in that Co-op. This scenario may mean that some producers will be producing in April this year and will then sell their remaining quota so the exchange should happen as quickly as possible”, he concluded.