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“Landmark Day For Irish Dairy Farmers”

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney TD, today announced the aggregate results of the sixteenth and final stage of the Milk Quota Trading Scheme. This is the second of the two stages that will allocate quota on 1st April 2014, for use during the final year of operation of milk quotas on Irish dairy farms.

A total of 45.6 million litres of milk quota was offered for sale under the scheme, with 43.4 million litres successfully traded. Of this total, 30.1 million litres was sold on the exchange at prices ranging from 3 to 18 cent per litre with the remaining 13.3 million litres being sold through the priority pool at the maximum price of 3 cent per litre. Demand for quota was 154 million litres meaning that only 28% of the volume sought was satisfied.

Commenting on the outcome, the Minister said “This was the final opportunity under the Trading Scheme for milk suppliers to either purchase additional quota for short term use or to dispose of unwanted quota and it was no surprise that demand and supply for sale were both higher than usual. Unfortunately as always, the demand significantly outstripped supply which means that there will be some disappointed purchasers. However, it must be remembered that we are now entering our final year of quotas and those that wish to expand their enterprises this time next year will be unbound by quota restrictions. The huge demand for this additional quota reflects the confidence and desire for expansion on the ground amongst dairy farmers”.

As this was the last ever running of the scheme, the Minister acknowledged the collaboration between his Department, milk purchasers, farm organisations, ICOS and the farming press for their work and co-operation down through the years in helping to make this trading mechanism so beneficial to the Irish dairy sector.

Concluding, the Minister said that “over the years the Milk Quota Trading Scheme proved to be an exceptionally robust and transparent mechanism for dealing with the movement of quota between suppliers and those who wished to acquire additional quota, and that it had won the confidence of all the stakeholders. Since its inception in 2006, more than 660 million litres of quota have been traded through the scheme. This is another landmark day for Irish dairy farmers. We are moving to a new era in milk production in Ireland and the countdown to quota abolition can really begin in earnest. One year from today, the Irish dairy sector will be free of quotas and can begin to fully realise its vast potential”.

NOTE FOR EDITORS

Aggregate results of the fourteenth Milk Quota Trading Scheme are attached. Full results for their respective areas will be sent to Co-ops today.