The latest Milk Price Tracker – brought to you by Agriland and the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) – details milk prices from the most significant Irish dairy co-ops for the month of May.

The co-ops within the Milk Price Tracker are ranked from highest to lowest price for base milk price only.

It is important to note that the cent-per-litre (c/L) milk prices shown in the table below are calculated using the widely accepted milk-pricing system.

The conversion factor used is 1.03, meaning 1L of milk corresponds to 1.03kg of milk.

It is Agriland and ICMSA policy not to include support payments, bonuses or additional payments in the calculation of the base milk price.

Milk price tracker

Base milk price has seen a significant improvement in the month of May with all of the cooperatives bar two, increasing their price from April.

Lakeland and North Cork Co-operative showed no increase in price for May supplies.

Boherbue leads the milk price tracker for May with a base price of 42.03c/L, with Strathroy in second place with a base price of 42c/L.

Tipperary is bottom of the table with a base price of 40.24c/L. A significant movement seen this month saw Arrabawn and Tirlán move from the bottom half of the table to the top three and four.

Six cooperatives increased their price by 2c/L, which included Arrabawn, Tirlán, Centenary, Aurivo, Kerry Group and Dairygold.

The milk prices in the table are those quoted by co-ops for the month of May (2024).

May bonuses and penalties

Further details of bonuses and penalties for the Milk Price Tracker can be found by clicking here.

With regard to the Milk Price Tracker above, please see the following explanatory notes  (all bonus and penalty payments are based on manufacturing milk).

Unconditional bonuses

  • Arrabawn is paying a 0.95c/L (excl. VAT) input support payment of which applies to all milk volumes supplied during May;
  • Aurivo is paying a 1c/L (excl. VAT) weather support on all milk supplied in May;
  • Lakeland is paying a 0.95c/L (excl. VAT) input support payment on all milk supplied in May.
     

Conditional bonuses

  • Arrabawn pays a 0.2c/L (excl. VAT) bonus on all milk with a somatic cell count (SCC) less than 200,000 cells/ml;
  • Arrabawn pays a 0.47c/L (excl. VAT) sustainability bonus;
  • Aurivo is paying a 0.5c/L (excl. VAT) future milk sustainability bonus;
  • Aurivo has a milk storage bonus which is available to suppliers with a minimum annual supply of 160,000L that have enough refrigerated storage capacity to cover seven milkings at peak production. The storage bonus of 0.44c/L was taken from the ‘C’ from September 2021. ‘C’ is 3.813;
  • Aurivo has a 0.21c/L (excl. VAT) protein bonus available for every 0.05% protein achieved, above the co-op average protein %, in an individual month;
  • Carbery Group pays a bonus of 0.5c/L (excl. VAT) from March to October and a 0.88c/L (excl. VAT) bonus from November to February to suppliers who achieve a SCC of less than 200,000 cells/ml;
  • In September 2022, Carbery began to pay out a sustainability bonus of 0.5c/L to farmers who have committed to Carbery’s futureproof programme. This is 1c/L for 2024 and is paid on all milk supplied by farmers who have signed a sustainability pledge and complete three actions. This is paid on January each year;
  • Dairygold has a maximum bonus attainable by farmers who achieve the minimum requirements for six criteria (total bacterial count (TBC), thermoduric, sediment, SCC, lactose and inhibitors); This cumulatively amounts to 0.4c/L (excl. VAT);
  • Dairygold has a 0.75c/L grassroots sustainability bonus payment for water quality, protected urea, soil health, education, milk recording, herd health and Sustainable Dairy Assurance Scheme (SDAS);
  • Kerry pays 0.4c/L (excl. VAT) bonus on all milk with a SCC less than 200,000 cells/ml and 0.1c/L (excl. VAT) for SDAS;
  • Lakeland is paying a 0.47c/L (excl. VAT) milk sustainability bonus;
  • North Cork pays a 0.2c/L (excl. VAT) bonus on all milk with a SCC of less than 200,000 cells/ml;
  • North Cork pays a 0.135c/L (excl. VAT) bonus if four milk recordings are carried out in the year, it will be paid the following January;
  • Strathroy pays a 0.25c/L (excl. VAT) bonus on all milk with a SCC of less than 200,000 cells/ml;
  • Strathroy also pays a 0.25c/L (excl. VAT) bonus on all milk with a TBC of less than 10,000 cells/ml;
  • Tipperary pays a bonus of 0.25c/L (excl. VAT) on all milk with a SCC less than 250,000 cells/ml;
  • Tirlán is paying a sustainability action payment of 0.47 c/L (excl. VAT) for May.
DAIRY ICMSA MILK PRICE MILK PRICE TRACKER