Co-ops urged to increase milk price to give farmers 'badly needed boost'
Mr Murphy said that improvements are "undeniable", and it is "now imperative that those improvements made their way back to the farmer-producer in the form of improved milk price".
Co-ops are being urged to increase their milk price to provide dairy farmers with a "badly needed confidence boost" after an extremely difficult 12 months.
Speaking in advance of the February round of milk price announcements, the chairman of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association dairy committee Noel Murphy said that February was a "positive month" in terms of dairy product prices and that this positive trend has been ongoing since last September.
Mr Murphy said that improvements are "undeniable", and it is "now imperative that those improvements made their way back to the farmer-producer in the form of improved milk price".
"Co-ops were very quick in spring 2023 to pull milk prices by large amounts and we do need to see equally strong signals in the opposite direction now," Mr Murphy said.
"While there are several early season bonuses being paid by the different milk purchasers, their base price will have to improve substantially to offset the inevitable removal of these bonuses and even besides that, the market justifies improvements in base price."
He said farmers continue to struggle with "stubbornly high inputs and regulatory restrictions".
He said it was "evident" that dairy market sentiment had become "notably positive" throughout February, after a slightly stagnant January.
The ICMSA said that the positivity was based on a weak supply situation globally set against constant demand.
While acknowledging a slight reduction in the Global Dairy Trade this week, Mr Murphy said that "we have seen consecutive GDT increases and, in turn with European quotes, increases in butter spot prices have driven the markets to a 14-month high".
