The chairperson of ICMSA’s Dairy Committee, Noel Murphy, has called on all milk processors to pay an end-of-year bonus to all their suppliers and he wants those at the bottom of the milk price league to be particularly generous in ensuring that their suppliers receive a milk price comparable with the top payers in the country.
Mr Murphy said that while the weather conditions and the strong milk price in Autumn 2024 have been a boost to all farmers and has certainly improved confidence and morale, that did not overhaul the extreme difficulties experienced over the previous 18 months and Mr Murphy said that farmers were still playing ‘catch up’ in terms of paying bills.
“For November milk, the market has remained in a strong position with the PPI, the GDT and Dutch dairy quotations all moving forward. The average EU price for November is expected to be in excess of 53 cents per litre and given the Irish product mix, farmers can legitimately expect a milk price at this level”, noted the Dairy Committee chairperson.
“In relation to an end-of-year bonus, the reality is that milk processor employees in many cases do get such a bonus and ICMSA’s opinion is that the milk suppliers – who are after an extremely difficult period and are the basis for everything else – should also be in line for a bonus.
“Milk supply was extremely challenging throughout the year and while dairy markets thankfully moved in an upward trajectory, that good price only arrived when milk volumes were low. We would hold that the milk price being paid was behind market returns for much of this year.
“ICMSA believes that milk processors have the scope to pay an end-of-year bonus and we want processors to deliver a timely confidence boost to their milk suppliers – the people who deliver the raw material on which everything thing else depends,” he said.
