Tipperary Co-op suppliers can only look to their near neighbours with envy. Take a typical supplier whose neighbour sends milk to Arrabawn, they would have €953 plus VAT more in their July milk cheque.

Chances are they’ve another neighbour sending milk to Tirlán and they’d be getting an extra €674 plus VAT, while the family down the road sending milk to Dairygold would be getting €382 plus VAT more for July.

Despite increasing milk price by 1.43c/l for July, Tipperary still ranks at the bottom of the league and that’s rankling with suppliers.

At the other end of the scale is North Cork, which has been at the top division for the last four months. The reason being is that they are paying out of a reserve fund which was built up from milk price in 2021.

Some farmers are questioning why we are including this in the Irish Farmers Journal milk league, saying that the North Cork base price is low and that it is only on the top of the league by paying out the reserve, which is effectively milk price it foregoes in previous years.

The milk league only looks at milk price paid out, so it wasn’t counted in the 2021 milk leagues.

Other co-ops also pay out of reserves from time to time which is included.

Effectively, it’s all farmers’ money regardless of what pot it comes from. However, if North Cork wasn’t paying out this reserve, it would be in division three and the same questions being asked of Tipperary Co-op should be asked of North Cork Co-op.

Every processor increased milk price in July by between 1c/l and 2c/l in light of the improved market situation over the last few months. Given that prices have really only started to turn in the last few weeks, I think we will see more price rises in the coming months.

GDT auction

The GDT auction increased by 5.5% last week and European butter prices have now surpassed their 2022 peak and are now worth €7,645/t. To put that price in context, butter was making €4,450/t this time last year.

Price increases for other commodities are more reserved but are still increasing, especially for cheese. Product mix and availability of stocks will come into play over the coming months.

We are perhaps already seeing some signs of that with the four co-ops supplying Carbery, which is big in cheese, only increasing milk price by 1c/l for July and moving down to the bottom of division two. That’s not normal for the west Cork co-ops, but they have no butter to sell.