The latest Milk Price Tracker - brought to you by Agriland and the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) - details milk prices from the most significant Irish dairy co-ops for the month of September.

The co-ops within the Milk Price Tracker are ranked from highest to lowest price for base milk price only.

It is important to note that the cent-per-litre (c/L) milk prices shown in the table below are calculated using the widely accepted milk pricing system.

The conversion factor used is 1.03, which means that 1L of milk corresponds to 1.03kg of milk.

It is Agriland and ICMSA policy not to include support payments, bonuses, or additional payments in the calculation of the base milk price.

September Milk Price Tracker

The worrying trend of falling prices continues as every cooperative has dropped base milk price for September supplies by significant volumes.

This is the third consecutive month of cuts across the board from the co-ops, except for Arrabawn Tipperary and Strathroy, who did not cut their prices for July supplies.

The biggest slashes in milk price came from Centenary and Tirlán, who both took 4.00c/L off their base milk price.

Both of these co-ops also slashed their base price by 2.50c/L last month, putting them in the bottom three in terms of base milk price being paid.

Dairygold delivered another significant price cut this month of 3.75c/L, following last month's drop of 3.00c/L. This leaves the co-op at the bottom of the table, a position it has held for five consecutive months now.

In last month's tracker, any cuts over 2.00c/L were considered significant, and now this month every single co-op has cut prices by over 2c/L, a sight that has not being seen since 2023.

Lisavaird had the biggest jump in the table, moving up four places to secure the highest milk price paid out of all the co-ops for the month of September.

On the other hand, Strathroy, Aurivo, and Lakeland Dairies all fell five places, knocking them well out of the top three.

The co-ops continue to say that the reasoning for these falling milk prices is down to increased global supplies, and the international decline in butter and cheese prices.

On top of this, the latest results on the Global Dairy Trade (GDT) show a continued drop in the index figure, which as of last Tuesday (October 21), had dropped a further 1.4%, bringing the price per metric tonne (mt) of product sold to €3,351.

This has worried many farmers, as the trajectory does not look promising, with some sources even suggesting the prices could drop below production costs.

This continues to worry liquid milk suppliers. With winter milking being a costly system, they hope to be paid a premium price for those extra costs.

The Irish Farmers Association (IFA) recently highlighted the pressure being put on these suppliers, saying these cuts paired with on-going price wars in supermarkets could potentially put an end to all-year-round processors.

August bonuses and penalties

Further details of bonuses and penalties for the Milk Price Tracker can be found by clicking here.

With regard to the latest Milk Price Tracker for September, the following explanatory notes (all bonus and penalty payments are based on manufacturing milk) apply.

Unconditional bonuses

North Cork are paying a supplementary 0.95c/L (excl. VAT ) on September supplies 

Conditional bonuses

Arrabawn/Tipperary pays a 0.4c/L (excl. VAT) bonus on all milk with a somatic cell count (SCC) less than 200,000 cells/ml;
Arrabawn/Tipperary pays a 0.712/L (excl. VAT) sustainability bonus;
Aurivo is paying a 0.5c/L (excl. VAT) future milk sustainability bonus;
Aurivo has a milk storage bonus, which is available to suppliers with a minimum annual supply of 160,000L that have enough refrigerated storage capacity to cover seven milkings at peak production. The storage bonus of 0.44c/L was taken from the ‘C’ from September 2021. ‘C’ is 3.813;
Aurivo has a 0.21c/L (excl. VAT) protein bonus available for every 0.05% protein achieved, above the co-op average protein %, in an individual month;
Carbery Group pays a bonus of 0.5c/L (excl. VAT) from March to October and a 0.88c/L (excl. VAT) bonus from November to February to suppliers who achieve an SCC of less than 200,000 cells/ml;
In September 2022, Carbery began to pay a sustainability bonus of 0.5c/L to farmers who have committed to Carbery’s futureproof programme. This is 1.25c/L for 2025 and is paid on all milk supplied by farmers who have signed a sustainability pledge and complete three actions. This is paid in January each year;
Dairygold has a maximum bonus attainable by farmers who achieve the minimum requirements for six criteria (total bacteria count (TBC); thermoduric; sediment; SCC; lactose and inhibitors). This cumulatively amounts to 0.4c/L (excl. VAT);
Dairygold has a 1.06c/L grassroots sustainability bonus payment for water quality, protected urea, soil health, education, milk recording, herd health and Sustainable Dairy Assurance Scheme (SDAS);
Kerry Dairy Ireland are paying a sustainability bonus of 1.35c/L (excl VAT) for a range of measures. This payment was introduced in January 2025. This includes the 0.4c/L (excl. VAT) bonus on all milk with an SCC less than 200,000 cells/ml and 0.1c/L (excl. VAT) for SDAS;
Lakeland is paying a 0.47c/L (excl. VAT) milk sustainability bonus;
North Cork pays a 0.2c/L (excl. VAT) bonus on all milk with an SCC of less than 200,000 cells/ml;
North Cork pays a 0.135c/L (excl. VAT) bonus if four milk recordings are carried out in the year. It will be paid the following January;
Strathroy pays a 0.25c/L (excl. VAT) bonus on all milk with an SCC of less than 200,000 cells/ml;
Strathroy also pays a 0.25c/L (excl. VAT) bonus on all milk with a TBC of less than 10,000 cells/ml;
Strathroy pays a 0.5c/L (excl. VAT) sustainability bonus, this was introduced in January 2024;
Tirlán is paying a sustainability action payment of 0.47c/L (excl. VAT) .