The board of Dairygold Co-operative Society decided on Tuesday to cut its July milk price to 25.5c/l including VAT. This is a 1.5c/l drop compared to the farmgate price paid for June milk.

Arrabawn, too, cut its base price by 1.5c/l to 26.3c/l.

The moves came as a Global Dairy Trade (GDT) auction on Tuesday marked the first time international dairy commodity prices picked up since last March.

In an exclusive interview to be published in the Irish Farmers Journal and at www.farmersjournal.ie on Thursday, Dairygold CEO Jim Woulfe said signs such as the recent GDT fall indicate that the milk price weakness will continue for the foreseeable future.

“This suggests a likelihood that it will be well into 2016 milk flow before the re-balancing currently but slowly getting under way begins to show meaningful upside,” Woulfe said.

The cuts by Dairygold and Arrabawn are in line with those announced by other processors in recent days, with Kerry cutting its base price by 2c/l on Monday, Glanbia Ingredients Ireland by 1c/l last Friday and Lakeland Dairies by 1c/l last Thursday.