Glanbia Co-op eases peak milk limits for 2022
The board of Glanbia Co-op has announced changes to its peak milk management policy for 2022.
The news comes following the processor’s review of its latest milk supply forecasts for this year.
According to Glanbia, its milk supplies are 2.4% behind the same period last year. It stated that this is primarily due to the “extreme and unprecedented” inflation in farm input costs and slower grass growth.
It stated that the delay in the planning approval process for a new cheese plant at Belview necessitated the introduction of a peak management policy for April, May and June in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
Therefore, the process will increase each individual milk supplier’s peak milk allocation for April, May and June of 2022 to their 2023 figure.
Peak milk policy
According to Glanbia, the impact of this relaxation will be as follows:
- For suppliers with less than 400,000 litres, this will increase their 2022 peak allocation by 10%;
- Secondly, for those between 400,000 and 550,000 litres, this will result in an increase in their 2022 peak allocation of 5%;
- Lastly, for those with a supply in excess of 550,000, this will result in an increase in their peak allocation of 2.5%.
The processor announced two additional changes to the peak milk policy for April:
- For April, the board will limit the over-supply penalty to 30% of the prevailing milk price and;
- It will waive the first €500 of deductions incurred in April for each supplier.
Processing plants
In a statement, Glanbia co-op chairman, John Murphy, said:
“We believe that these changes are appropriate given the latest milk supply trends versus the available milk processing capacity.”
“The board do not want suppliers cutting back supplies aggressively at a time when processing plants are not at maximum capacity.”
Based on milk supply trends and available processing capacity, the board will review the penalty policy for May and June in early May and communicate to suppliers.
Today’s news comes following Glanbia’s move to issue milk payments to farmer suppliers twice monthly to assist with cashflow.
Read more on that news story.
