Northern milk hurting farmers here

INITIATIVES like the move for common action by ICMSA and the British Farmers For Action (FFA) are the best response to the growing pressure of cross-border imports on southern Ireland milk prices.

Glanbia chief John Maloney says milk from the North now has a 14% share of liquid milk sales in the Republic, and the southward flow will increase, with buyers paying 12 or 13c per litre less for the Northern milk, which helps supermarkets to finance their current 50c per litre milk giveaway in the South.

In 2002, Glanbia estimated the Northern share at 20%, following a doubling of imports from the North in two years.