The President of ICMSA said that the results were positive and a testament to the underlying quality of Irish dairy products. Pat McCormack said that the reputation of Irish milk was built upon the standards achieved and being driven forward by the farmers themselves: “ICMSA’s position is very clear: milk price needs to start moving upwards and the objective of Ornua must be to deliver a milk price that exceeds the growth in the cost of production.
In this regard, the eye-catching Ornua results called into the question the current milk prices being paid by some of our largest Co-ops to their farmer-suppliers that were, according to the ICMSA president, “noticeably less” than the Ornua Index on which they were supposed to be based.
“This is what will grab the farmers’ attention: the Ornua Index represents the prices that the member Co-ops of Ornua have received for their supplies into the Co-op but those individual Co-ops are currently paying the farmer-suppliers a milk price that is less than the price that the Co-ops themselves have been paid by Ornua – not even mentioning the bonus that was paid to the individual Co-ops by Ornua . It is quite clear from the Ornua results that markets returned well in 2018 for processors in what was an extremely difficult year for farmers. And it is just as clear that milk prices must at least move up to the Ornua PPI for when the March milk prices are declared”, concluded Mr. McCormack.
Ends 3 April 2019.
Pat McCormack, 087-7608958
President, ICMSA.
Or
Cathal MacCarthy, 087-6168758
ICMSA Press Office
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