Kerry Group has announced that it will issue a milk price top-up payment to suppliers this week for milk supplied in the final six months of 2023.
The processor will pay 1c/L, including VAT, for all qualifying milk solids supplied in the period from July to December 2023.
The payment will be made tomorrow (Friday, December 5), according to a text sent by Kerry Group to suppliers.
Kerry Group
Last month, Kerry Group confirmed that it will pay 35c/L, inclusive of VAT, at 3.3% protein and 3.6% butterfat for November milk supplies. The price has remained unchanged since August.
The price consists of a base price of 32c/L and a milk contract payment of 3c/L, inclusive of VAT, on all qualifying milk volumes.
In a statement issued at that time, a spokesperson for the processor said: “Sentiment with regard to dairy commodities remains tentatively positive for 2024 as a turbulent 2023 comes to a close.
“The questions around the robustness of the market fundamentals underpinning that positivity still remain and underscore the evident uncertainty.”
As previously reported by Agriland, a producer organisation for Kerry Group milk suppliers is expected to begin accepting members this month.
Limerick-based barrister, Ciaran Dolan has drawn up an initial set of rules for the new producer organisation.
Dolan, a producer organisation facilitator approved by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), has already been involved with the establishment of two beef producer organisations.
The Kerry Milk Suppliers’ Action Group, which has held several meetings and participated in protests, say they are disappointed at the milk price being paid by Kerry, particularly in the first half of 2023.
They claim that the price paid by Kerry Group for milk over the first six months of last year was down by around 3.5c/L compared to other processors.
The group is proposing to hold its next meeting on January 18 at the Longcourt Hotel, Newcastle West, Co. Limerick.