Ornua has announced that its Purchase Price Index (PPI) for April will remain the same as March’s index of 100.4.
This, according to the Irish dairy exporter, works out at 29.6c/L – VAT inclusive – based on Ornua’s product purchase mix and assumed costs of 6.5c/L.
This month’s PPI follows on from last month, when a sharp drop from February’s index of 105.4 was recorded; this, in turn, followed a steep decrease from January’s figure of 111.3.
Source: Ornua
MilkFlex scheme to get national roll-out
Yesterday (Tuesday, May 8), Finance Ireland announced that plans are in place to make the MilkFlex loan product available through participating co-ops across Ireland.
The new facility – supported by funding from the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) and Rabobank – will offer flexible, competitively-priced loans to dairy farmers with repayments linked to movements in milk price.
The announcement was made at a launch event in Dublin. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, was guest of honour at the launch and welcomed the decision to make MilkFlex available to participating co-ops countrywide.
The scheme has been welcomed by the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICSMA), which believes that they have the potential to be a “very useful option” for farmers.
Welcoming the countrywide MilkFlex roll-out, ICMSA president Pat McCormack said he believed it will become a very significant source of finance and loans in the farm and agri-food sector.
As a result, farmers desperately required low-cost financing and “agri-sensitive” loans that they could both access and repay in a timely, flexible and smooth fashion, the president said.