Carbery's 18-month fixed milk price offer

FARMER suppliers to the four West Cork creameries are now being offered an 18-month fixed price offer from the beginning of 2016 through their milk processor Carbery Group. 

The scheme which runs from January 1st 2016 to June 30th 2017 offers farmers the opportunity to fix of 5% of their milk supply at a fixed price of 30.1c per litre at standard solids of 3.6% fat and 3.3% protein, which includes the SCC bonus of 0.55c/litre. This is equivalent to 32.46c per litre, at average delivered milk constituents of fat 4.01% and protein 3.43%.  

The fixed milk price quoted in the Carbery scheme includes the co-op’s bonus for somatic cell count of under 200,000. This bonus is 0.5c per litre in summer and 0.88c per litre in the winter months. Up to 70% of the total milk volume delivered to Carbery qualifies for the SCC bonus of 0.55c per litre. 

The opportunity for each supplier to avail of additional volume above the 5% will depend on how much of the fixed milk price allocation farmers avail of in the first round offer. Producers will have until early January 2016 to consider the new offer. The West Cork co-ops will allow farmers avail of additional volumes above 5% should unallocated volumes from the total milk volume available remain after the first round. Those who took up the first offer back in April 2015 will be pleased by the latest one, while farmers who did not take it up then will probably consider starting now, given the volatility of milk prices in the past year.