Up to 100 Kerry Group milk suppliers have staged a protest outside the company’s headquarters in Tralee, Co. Kerry today (Tuesday, July 11).
The farmers are demanding that Kerry Group brings its milk price into line with other processors.
They claim that they have been paid 3.7c/L less than suppliers of neighbouring processor, Dairygold, for all milk supplied in the first five months of 2023.
Last month, around 500 Kerry Group milk suppliers staged a similar protest outside the processor’s dairy plant in Charleville, Co. Cork.
The demonstration followed an announcement from Kerry Group that it was cutting its base milk price by 1c/L for May supplies to 37c/L.
Pat Enright, a Kerry Group milk supplier from Castleisland, Co. Kerry, who was among the organisers of today’s demonstration, told Agriland that his milk payments were €7,000 less than a Dairygold supplier up to the end of May, 2023.
“We’re short 3.7c/L for the first five months of this year. Dairygold [is] just over the road from us, that’s the gap between us and Dairygold.
“For every 100,000L you put in it’s €3,700. It’s a lot of money when the [Kerry Group milk] price is down at 37c/L.
“We’re gone under the cost of production. Bills are mounting, they need to be paid,” he said.
Milk suppliers
Ahead of the June milk price being announced by Kerry Group, Enright said the suppliers felt they had “no choice” but to take to the streets again.
“We were just afraid that they [Kerry Group] are going to pull it [the milk price] more. The word is out there that they were going to pull it more.
“We’ve heard nothing since the protest in Charleville, the farmers have heard nothing back on milk price, they’ve totally ignored us,” he said.
Tommy Roche, another Kerry Group supplier from Castleisland, was among those who attended the protest.
“I think Kerry gave us a commitment in our contract in 2015 that they would honour the leading milk price for the following ten years. They’ve never honoured it.
“We’re constantly trying to get them to fulfill their commitment and we’re here again now with a situation where Kerry farmers are 3.5c/L below the leading milk price in a year when prices are particularly bad.
“Kerry could do an awful lot more to honour that commitment,” he said.
As part of today’s protest, the suppliers delivered a letter to Pat Murphy, the chief executive of Kerry Group’s dairy division, Dairy Ireland.
The letter, seen by Agriland, called on the processor to issue a payment of 3.7c/L to suppliers on all milk supplied in 2023.
It also demanded that Kerry Group discontinue paying a once-a-year top-up payment and instead factor this into the monthly payments.
Finally, the suppliers called on the company to engage with Kerry Co-op’s legal representative to bring the long-running milk price arbitration issue to a conclusion.
“This campaign is going to continue until we get what’s coming to us,” Pat Enright said.
In a statement to Agriland, Kerry Group said: “Global dairy markets remain pressurised as we move into the second half of 2023.
“Kerry continues to monitor dairy market returns and remains fully committed to its contractual agreement to pay a like-for-like leading milk price.”