The chief executive and director of Glanbia Ireland told delegates at the 2017 Agricultural Science Association (ASA) annual conference that weather as well as production in Europe, the US and New Zealand will all affect milk price here.

“The most immediate effect (on price) is weather,” Bergin said.

“Secondly, we have to look at what’s happening in Europe,” Bergin said, adding that milk production in France and Germany has recovered after well after culling following the dairy downturn of two years ago.

He said that despite heavy rain in New Zealand, farmers there have “hit the ground running and the price is good”.

I wouldn’t expect an overheated market in 2018

However, he said the current instability in the dollar is his “biggest factor” in determining milk price in 2018.

“It (the dollar) is considerably weaker than what it was.

“Coupled with that, New Zealand will play its game and Europe is producing more. (All of this) will have a more sobering aspect on the price,” Bergin said.

Irish price

What that all means for Irish farmers is a solid, if unspectacular, milk price year next year.

Bergin was unwilling to put an exact price on his forecast but he said farmers will be in for “not a bad time, not a great time”, where the price will be similar to the current one.

“I wouldn’t expect an overheated market in 2018,” he said.

In terms of Glanbia’s own price paid to farmers, Bergin said it “will pay a strong, competitive price”.

And it is the processor’s ambition to stay in the “top two or three” positions in the Irish Farmers Journal / KPMG annual milk price review.

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