Around €33m will be paid out to Kerry milk suppliers next week under a milk price top-up after an interim agreement was reached in December over the contentious 'leading' milk price issue.

Kerry Group said it will issue a 3c/litre goodwill payment next week to all milk suppliers based on their average annual milk supply from 2015 to 2019.

Payment

This will see the average Kerry milk supplier receive a payment in the region of €10,700, or €126 per cow, assuming 3,100 milk suppliers and an average 80-cow herd.

Volumes are also adjusted for milk in fixed milk price schemes, which are excluded from this top-up.

This interim agreement of a 3c/litre goodwill payment was reached after weeks of negotiations on Kerry’s ‘leading’ milk price between Kerry Group and representatives of Kerry Co-op.