Tirlán has been asked by farmer representatives to explain what it sees as a “differential” between the milk price paid to farmers in Northern Ireland compared to the price paid to suppliers in the south.
Agriland understands that farm organisations estimate that in some instances farmers in the north could be getting paid “up to 2c/L more” than their counterparts in the Republic of Ireland.
According to Tirlán it has approximately 180 milk suppliers in Northern Ireland.
In a statement, the Kilkenny headquartered co-op said that in relation to milk prices paid to farmers in the north, “month-to-month there will be variabilities due to currency fluctuations and other market specific items such as milk quality standards”.
Tirlán also stated: “When making price comparisons, it should be noted that there are significant differences in the monthly milk supply profile between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
“Every effort on both milk pricing and supply terms is made to align the pricing between Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland suppliers.”
It is understood that both the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) and the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) have “queried” what they see as a price “differential” between suppliers in the north and the south.
Tirlán confirmed last month that it would increase its price for May milk supplies from dairy farmers in the south by 0.5c/L.
The processor paid a base milk price of 41.58c/L. In Northern Ireland, Tirlán paid dairy farmers a base price of 37.15p/L.
Tirlán has stressed that “there are nuances in milk pricing across jurisdictions – expressing milk price per kg of solids rather than on c/L is the most appropriate for comparisons”.
The co-op added: “Tirlán has led the Northern Ireland industry in progressively moving towards paying for milk solids.
“Tirlan was the first milk processor in Northern Ireland to pay for milk solids and commenced the transition to milk solids from 2022.”
Milk prices
Latest statistics from the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) indicate that the weighted average producer milk price for the year to date is in the region of 37.06p/L.
But according to the UK’s Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) the average price paid for milk in Northern Ireland in April, was 37.45p/L – which was 3% lower than the average paid in Great Britain.
However according to the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) dairy chair, Cyril Orr, current prices paid to dairy farmers in the north do not reflect the cost of production.
Orr said that recent farm income figures from DAERA for 2023-2024 “are a stark reality of how hard dairy farmers’ incomes have been hit in the last tax year”.
He added: “Coupled with the problematic weather we had from July 2023 onwards, this was compounded further with falling farmgate prices. The old saying that bad prices and bad weather are not a good combination comes to mind.
“Markets have started to rise from the lows last year, however, the recovery is slow. There is definitely scope for some price increases, but they will not be massive when you look at the UFU MPI.”
The UFU dairy chair also claimed that based on recent annual reports “local dairy processors have had an excellent year announcing 11% increases in profits”.
He added that while, in his opinion, local dairy farmers had not made money “there is money being made somewhere in the dairy supply chain”.
