ICMSA set 48cpl as 'minimum target' for August milk price
'A crisis of confidence at farm level'
AS DAIRY markets have moved forward substantially in August and with indications that markets will harden further in September, the chair of ICMSA’s dairy committee has called on all milk processors to pay at least 48cpl base price for August milk.
“They need to send a strong signal to their farmer-suppliers that the market improvements that have taken place over the last six weeks are noted and being fed-through to the price farmers receive,” said Noel Murphy, chairperson.
He said there is a crisis of confidence at farm level, and a growing and well-justified belief that everyone is doing very well out of the litre of milk except the farmer who is working to produce it seven days a week.
He said that it was incumbent on co-op boards to ensure that the farmer-supplier – on whose efforts everything and everybody else depended – got the price that the market dictated and that meant 48cpl at least for milk supplied in August. He said that debts and bills had mounted up all year and farmers needed that income to begin paying them down.
“We know that 48cpl is justified by analysing the markets – all have moved forward considerably from the EU to New Zealand to the USA with butter - a key product for Irish processors - moving forward very strongly.
“On the Dutch dairy quotations, butter has increased from €6,820 per tonne on July 31 to €7,950 per tonne on September 4, representing nearly a 17% increase in the price of butter in just over a month while WMP has increased from €3,860 to €4,280 per tonne, an 11% increase and SMP from €2,330 to €2,530 per tonne, a 9% increase over the same period.
"These are all easily verifiable rises, and they support clearly the case for 48cpl for August supplies,” said Mr Murphy.
My Murphy concluded by reminding co-op boards that farmers could read the market data just as well as they could.
“We are adamant that a price of 48cpl for last month’s milk supplied is absolutely in line with the markets the co-ops are selling into and that is the price those Co-ops must pay us farmers”.