The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) Dairy Committee chair Stephen Arthur is calling on processors to support dairy farmers by maximising the price paid for April milk supplies.
The comments come as the Central Statistics Office (CSO) confirmed that milk volumes were down by almost 6% in March 2024, when compared to the same month in the previous year.
Domestic milk intake by milk processors and co-ops was estimated to be around 753.8 million litres in March.
The data shows that milk volumes dipped by 8% in the first quarter (Q1) of this year against the same period in 2023.
Milk price
Arthur also pointed to the higher costs still facing dairy farmers coming off the back of very difficult spring weather.
“We have reached or passed the peak of production now, with no lift in milk volumes on farm.
“This means reduced sales for dairy farmers, which is further compounded by the massive increase in overall cost of production this spring.
“We acknowledge the support paid by some processors for March milk, but it needs to extend into April to alleviate some of the cashflow pressure among dairy farmers at this stage,” he said.
The IFA Dairy chair said that the outlook on dairy markets is stable, with the latest Global Dairy Trade (GDT) auction from New Zealand showing an overall index increase of 1.8%.
“Dairy markets are firming up. We need our processors to return every cent they can to dairy farmers to support them during this very difficult period,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Ornua Purchase Price Index (PPI) for the month of April, and the indicative price return, have both increased slightly on the March figure.
The PPI for last month is 132.6, compared to 132.3 for March. This implies an indicative return for April of 38.5c/L (including VAT), an increase of 0.9c/L on the previous month’s figure of 37.6c/L, for milk at 3.6% fat and 3.3% protein.
This indicative return was arrived at after deducting co-op processing costs, which, under Ornua’s new system for determining processor costs, has been adjusted for the new quarter of the year.
For March and February (when this new methodology was first used) the processing cost was 9.4c/L. For April, it has been adjusted down to 8.6c/L.