This article is from page 38 of the 2008-05-20 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 38 JPG
CLARE milk producers are about the feel the pinch with the news this week that the Kerry Group is to slash the price they pay to farmers by 22.7 cents per gallon.
The news comes just days after Ire- land’s biggest milk producer, Glan- bia cut their milk price by 3.96 cents per litre.
Chairperson of ICMSA’s Dairy Committee, John O’Leary, described the Kerry Group decision as a terrible blow to Clare farmers and all Kerry suppliers. According to O’Leary, this cut will represents a loss of €11,365
for a full year’s milk production on a 50,000 gallon farm.
“The reality is that Kerry suppli- ers face substantially increased costs and many have made – or are making – massive investments in relation to Nitrates. It is a terrible blow to them to see their Co-op cutting the price by 22.7 cents per gallon in one go,” he said.
‘This kind of drastic cut is in sharp contrast to last year when the Co-op only increased the price by small amounts while the markets were booming. They have been much quicker to cut the price than they were to raise it last year and they
have cut the price just before peak milk production.
“It should be pointed out that Ker- ry’s profits last year were €298 mil- lion and the group indicated this week that earnings will grow again in 2008, an announcement that comes at the same time as they have slashed farmers’ earnings.
“The growth in Kerry’s earnings would appear to be at the expense of milk suppliers. Present figures indi- cate that a 50,000-gallon Kerry sup- plier will be over €13,500 worse off than a Wexford supplier based on a full year’s milk production.
Meanwhile, the IFA’s’ Richard
Kennedy criticised Glanbia for cut- ting their April milk price by 3.96c/ ie
‘“Glanbia is the biggest milk proces- sor in the country with probably the best product mix of all milk proces- sors,” he said.
“It should therefore have been in a particularly good position to hold the April milk price. It is a huge letdown to Glanbia suppliers and the suppli- ers to all other co-ops that this year again Glanbia choose to led milk prices down. We would urge Glan- bia and other co-ops to hold a strong milk price in 2008 to secure farmer confidence and milk supply.”