Boards sitting down next week “must raise the base price” for January supplies as current dairy market returns “fully justify” an increase, according to the Irish Farmers’ Association.
IFA national dairy chairman Stephen Arthur stressed that input costs “remain stubbornly high”, and with “weaker than anticipated” milk supply in the backend, farmers starting back into milk this spring “need a strong milk price”.
“This isn’t the time for lining the coffers, every cent has to be paid back to the farmer,” Mr Arthur said.
“The buffer is long gone. Most farmers need a base price in excess of 40c/litre to sustain their businesses going forward.”
While European markets are relatively stable, the latest GDT provided positive sentiment to the global dairy market lifting by 4.2%.
Crucially, butter traded substantially higher than in European spot and futures markets, indicating the potential for butter prices to rise in the short term, the IFA said.
Milk supply was down by 4.1% in Ireland last year compared to 2022, according to the latest CSO figures.
In 2023, domestic milk intake was estimated at almost 8.5bn litres, a decline of 365.5m litres, when compared with 2022.
The 2023 milk supply was down by 299.1m litres (3.4%) also when compared with 2021.
Domestic milk intake by creameries and pasteurisers was estimated at 206.1m litres in December 2023, a decrease of 76.6m litres (27.1%) when compared with December 2022.
The December 2023 figure was down 52.4m litres (20.3%) when compared with December 2021.
