This is a subscriber-only article
The February monthly milk league reflects the milk prices paid for February supply paid to farmers in the last two weeks.
Apart from a small tweak or two, the price is more or less the same as January. Kerry and near neighbours Boherbue (the small north Cork operation) lifted base milk price by 0.13c/kgMS or 1c/l in old money. This Kerry move still didn’t get them into the first division because Glanbia, Dairygold and Aurivo all have unconditional February bonuses, meaning all litres supplied get the bonus for February.
It’s not often the west Cork co-ops are in division two but that’s where they are for February as they don’t get involved in the scrap for February supplies. Remember, on average about 4% of annual milk supplies are delivered in February for the typical spring calver, so it’s a relatively small cheque for most farmers.
Tipperary Co-op and Centenary Thurles prop up the bottom of the main table and have the privilege of division four all to themselves. In old money, they are 2c/l to 3c/l off the pace when compared to near neighbours, depending on who you compare with. What it means for the farmer in either of these co-ops is that when compared, like for like, on what was available, the February cheque for the Tipperary co-ops was almost €800 less than what it was for a farmer supplying Glanbia, Dairygold or Aurivo.
After a difficult three months when costs at farm level were higher than average due to exceptional rainfall, Irish dairy farmers will be looking for co-ops to at least maintain milk prices into the key March to May period.
Management in co-ops will be signaling that low oil prices normally mean low milk prices. However, the fact New Zealand is in drought and now high feed prices over there are making feeding unattractive, it means milk supply from our Kiwi friends will be well back on original predictions. With China getting back up and going after coronavirus and ports unclogging, the hope is some normality is returning.
The price of whole milk powder (WMP), which is the key commodity traded on the GDT, fell by more than 4% last week to just under $2,800/t (€2,550/t), while skimmed milk powder (SMP) dropped 8% to just under $2,530/t (€2,300/t). On the other hand, the price of dairy fats actually increased. Cheddar cheese prices increased almost 3% to $4,400/t (€4,000/t), while butter prices showed a marginal gain (+0.3%) to reach $4,145/t (€3,775/t). European milk powder prices also fell recently. SMP prices are back to €2,050/t, while WMP prices are back to €2,230/t. On butter and cheese markets, soaring demand from supermarkets is helping to hold prices as they are right now.
SHARING OPTIONS: