Ulster Farmers’ Union Dairy Chairman Andrew Addison is urging milk processors to pay Northern Ireland dairy farmers a price that is reflective of the global dairy market, following on from last week’s positive Fonterra Auction result.
Andrew Addison said; “The latest New Zealand Fonterra auction finished up last week with a 10.4% increase across the product range, giving an average price of $4,216 per tonne across all products. The price of Whole Milk Powder in particular saw a whopping 18% increase to $4,298 per tonne, which is the highest spot price since 1 March 2011. With New Zealand experiencing one of the biggest droughts in history, there are indications that dairy farmers in the North Island are only milking once a day and buying in large amounts of feed and those in the South Island are facing the same difficulties. This is a situation which cannot be easily recovered.
“With a substantially increased Fonterra result and strong global market overall, this must have a positive impact upon Northern Ireland milk prices. Our dairy farmers need a price that is reflective of the market given that production costs have been greater than the farm gate milk price for some considerable time. From a Northern Ireland perspective this was the first Fonterra auction since the demise of the United Dairy Farmers’ Auction and signs are positive in terms of milk pricing. Under the new pricing arrangements we will be closely monitoring producer returns from milk buyers to ensure that these significant market improvements are fully reflected.”
