Aurivo, Arrabawn, Carbery and Dairygold have all cut their milk price for April by 1c/l.

This brings the Aurivo price back to 21.8c/l, excluding VAT, at 3.6% fat and 3.3% protein.

Arrabawn’s base price is now 22.4c/l excluding VAT.

The Carbery group of west Cork co-ops is now on 23.8c/l, excluding VAT.

Dairygold has dropped its base price to 20.9c/l excluding VAT.

These prices are net farmgate ones as reported in the Irish Farmers Journal milk league, excluding conditional bonuses.

LacPatrick decided this Tuesday to keep its April milk price unchanged.

Earlier this month, Glanbia and Lakeland, too, held their milk price.

IFA dairy committee chair Sean O’Leary slammed the latest cuts and said: “I understand that markets are challenging, with only limited signs of improvements, and those unlikely to take hold for some time, but farmers simply cannot take any further pain, and every cut sinks them further into the red, damaging their families’ livelihoods but also the potential of the entire dairy sector.”

He called on the Minister for Agriculture to use the recently raised permissible state aid annual ceiling of €15,000 per farm to provide subsidised short-term loans for dairy farmers faced with superlevy and credit merchant payments during the current price slump.

Mixed signal from GDT

The cuts came as this Tuesday’s GDT auction gave a timid positive signal, with butter products, whole milk powder and lactose showing price increases of at least 3%.

Trade in skim milk powder and cheese, however, was sluggish, with prices losing just under 1%.

Volumes traded were low, falling under 20,000t for the first time in three years.

The GDT index has been without clear direction for the past three months, alternating small upward and downward movements.

Closer to home, Ornua’s purchase price index fell to an all-time low last week.

Amy Fitzgibbon contributed reporting for this story

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