This article is from page 52 of the 2007-08-28 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 52 JPG
THE summer battle over milk prices continued this week when the IFA accused Glanbia of holding back of some €5 million of payments to eur ace
IFA President, Padraig Walshe, at- tacked the co-op on Thursday, ac- cusing it of withholding over €5m in milk payments due to suppliers for the 2006 KPMG milk audit top- up, and the July 2007 milk price in- Keron
‘Average suppliers have now been left short about €1,300 in milk pay- ments due from Glanbia. This is money that farmers are entitled to
and need, and suppliers are angry that Board members can stand by and allow this to happen,” he said.
“It is totally unacceptable that Glanbia’s 4,000 suppliers have not yet received the top-up payment of at least 1.3c/gal, arising from the 2006 KPMG audit. The top-up is worth at least €780 to a 60,000 gallon pro- ducer.
In the past, this top-up payment was always issued by way of a Sec- ond cheque in June or July, as soon as the audit was published.”
The IFA President also denounced Glanbia’s failure to pay the July milk price increase that they announced and got credit for.
“This payment is believed to be worth some €500 to an average sup- plier with 7,000 gallons of July de- TAoiu lee
“Last year, Glanbia Co-op was used to subsidise Glanbia Plc to make up milk payments to farmers.
“This year, Glanbia Plc manage- ment has been dragging its heels on milk price increases all year,’ con- tinued Walshe.
‘“Glanbia plc is already operating on greatly increased processor margins this year. Farmers are furious that management use every possible ploy to hold back on milk payments”’.
He continued, “It’s a new depar- ture for Glanbia to hold back on milk
payments that have already been an- nounced. It’s high time that farmer board members Glanbia to account.” Earlier in the week the IFA Presi- dent had demanded a meeting with Glanbia Chief Executive, John Maloney, stating, “Glanbia’s on ac- count prices of €170/t for barley, €180/t for wheat and €185/t for oats are derisory and this move is clearly designed to undermine the market for green grain by €15 to €20/t”.