Industry predictions of soaring future consumption of dairy products in Asia and India are not being matched by demand in more easily accessible and lucrative European markets, according to analysts.

Dairy farmers will collectively receive an extra €825m per annum in their creamery cheques by 2020, according to experts.

AMBITIOUS plans to expand the dairy sector will cost farmers less than half of the €825 million they spent buying quota over the past 20 years, the Irish Co-Operative Organisation Society (ICOS) has said.

THE RISE of nationalism movements in Europe could threaten Ireland’s €2bn dairy export business unless the EU rethinks its new labelling proposals, says one leading figure in the dairy industry.

MILK quotas are gone, and there’s nothing to be gained from living in the past, according to Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS) president Pat McLoughlin.

THE Irish Dairy Board (IDB) will consider marketing collaborations with a number of overseas representative dairy bodies at private meetings scheduled during next month’s global milk conference in New Zealand, says its chief executive Kevin Lane.

IRISH co-ops do not have the money to expand the country’s milk processing capacity in line with the Government’s stated mid-term target of a 50% productivity increase, according to the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society Ltd (ICOS).

MILK processors are coming under extreme pressure from dairy farmers to minimise price reductions as they meet to set April prices.

SHAREHOLDERS of two Co Clare marts, with a combined annual turnover of €52 million, have decided to merge into a combined business.