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 April.

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

Boherbue leads the tracker for April with a base price of 41.41c/L, with Lakeland in second place with a base price of 41.40c/L.

Tipperary is bottom of the table with a base price of 38.74c/L. A significant movement seen this month saw Arrabawn move from bottom of the table in the March supplies to then rank ninth in the table for supplies in April.

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

April bonuses and penalties

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

With regards 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 2.86c/L (excl. VAT) winter bonus payment of which applies to all milk volumes supplied during April that meet quality criteria;
  • Aurivo is paying a 2c/L (excl. VAT) weather support on all milk supplied in April;
  • Carbery co-ops are paying a 0.47c/L (excl. VAT) payment from the stability fund. This is included in the protein and butterfat prices;
  • Dairygold is paying a 1c/L (excl. VAT) weather/fodder relief payment to all milk volumes supplied during April;
  • Lakeland is paying a 0.92c/L (excl. VAT) input support payment on all milk supplied in April;
  • Tipperary is paying a 0.92c/L (excl. VAT) input support payment on all milk supplied in April;
  • Tirlán is paying a 1.41c/L (excl. VAT) weather support payment on milk volumes supplied during April.

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 (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 SDAS;
  • Kerry pays 0.4c/L (excl. VAT) bonus on all milk with an 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 0.2c/L (excl. VAT) bonus on all milk with an SCC of less than 200,000 cells/ml;
  • North Cork pays 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 0.25c/L (excl. VAT) bonus on all milk with an SCC of less than 200,000 cells/ml. Strathroy also pays 0.25c/L (excl. VAT) bonus on all milk with an TBC of less than 10,000 cells/ml.
  • Tipperary pays a bonus of 0.25c/L (excl. VAT) on all milk with an SCC less than 250,000 cells/ml.
  • Tirlán is paying a sustainability action payment of 0.47c/L (excl. VAT) for April.
DAIRY ICMSA MILK PRICE MILK PRICE TRACKER