Amid continued weak and depressed dairy markets, the Ornua purchase price index (PPI) has fallen for the 13th consecutive month.

On Wednesday, the PPI was set at 81.4 for April, down from 84.2 for March. According to Ornua’s calculations, a PPI of 81.4 equates to a farmgate price of 22.7c/litre.

Two co-ops had set a price for April milk. Lakeland and Glanbia decided to hold their respective prices for April. According to the latest figures released by the European Commission, Irish farmers are now getting the third-lowest farmgate milk price in the EU. Only Latvia and Lithuania are paying their dairy farmers less than Ireland.

Payments under the direct aid package for the dairy and pig sectors are now issuing to farmers, the Department has confirmed. In the dairy sector, the payments are a €1,000 top-up to almost 1,500 young farmers who were successful applicants under the Department’s Young Farmer Scheme, complementing the payments to over 17,600 farmers in December. In the pig sector, there are almost 300 approved applications for aid. Payments of €3,300 to each participant have commenced this week.

IFA president Joe Healy said IFA has been lobbying TDs ahead of the government formation last week, and into this week, to persuade them to use State Aid concession to address serious cashflow issues on farms.