Suppliers to LacPatrick Co-op finished on top of the February monthly milk league. I understand this is the last time LacPatrick will issue the milk cheques – next time the new merged entity that will be called Lakeland Dairies will pay the milk cheques. The February monthly milk league reflects the milk prices for February milk supplies paid to farmers in the last two weeks. The big changes that affect the milk league are the inclusion of unconditional early season payments for Aurivo and LacPatrick that push them both up the league. All suppliers get this bonus, so we include it in the league.
Suppliers to LacPatrick Co-op finished on top of the February monthly milk league. I understand this is the last time LacPatrick will issue the milk cheques – next time the new merged entity that will be called Lakeland Dairies will pay the milk cheques.
The February monthly milk league reflects the milk prices for February milk supplies paid to farmers in the last two weeks. The big changes that affect the milk league are the inclusion of unconditional early season payments for Aurivo and LacPatrick that push them both up the league. All suppliers get this bonus, so we include it in the league.
On the down side, big players Kerry, Dairygold, Arrabawn and Glanbia all reduced February milk price. The net result is LacPatrick jumps to the top of the league while all the big players fall into division three.
The frustration for Irish farmers is that global trade signals seem to be moving in the other direction at the same time as Irish milk supply is ramping up. On the supply and demand front, New Zealand supply is up year on year, but the Chinese continue to buy and European prices are competitive again versus global prices. Some processors are blaming the price cuts on a Brexit trade distortion, a sort of wait-and-see approach taking hold of the trade, with stocks in store meaning there is little or no actual trading going on at the moment. Either way, Irish farmers stand to lose big if the February milk price cuts persist.
The west Cork co-ops continue to dominate the first division. The Kerry farmers will be happy to see the retrospective Kerry late-season milk price top-up land into accounts. This effectively works out at €18.50/cow if we assume a 5,000l/cow production using seasonal monthly supply norms. For your typical 80-cow herd in Kerry, Limerick and Clare, this works out as a €1,480 bonus per herd.
This top-up comes on top of the already announced 1.5c/l bonus for January to March 2018 supplies, and a 1c/l bonus on April supplies. Using similar assumptions, this would have amounted to €16.50/cow of an early season bonus. In total, it means the retrospective top-up to milk price for 2018 was €35/cow. Kerry Group says this exceeds the milk contract price committment that suppliers signed up to.
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