Business

Avonmore owner welcomes Taoiseach’s comments on nitrates limit

Revenues at Tirlán down 17% amid fall in global milk prices

Tirlán said it exported about 422,000 tonnes of ingredients to almost 100 countries last year including China and parts of southeast Asia.

Ian Curran
Tue Apr 30 2024 - 06:00

The Taoiseach’s support for retaining Ireland’s nitrates limit and his commitment to rolling out a financial package to help struggling farmers has been welcomed by the outgoing chief executive of Ireland’s largest dairy co-op amid “desperate” weather so far this year.

Tirlán, formerly Glanbia Co-op, on Monday reported a 17 per cent decline in group turnover to €2.53 billion last year, mostly due to a fall in global milk and commodity prices from 2022′s record highs, it said.

The farmer-owned group, which is behind brands such as Avonmore, Kilmeaden, Premier and Truly Grass Fed, rebranded as Tirlán in 2022 after Glanbia Co-op acquired the remaining 40 per cent of Glanbia Ireland from Glanbia plc. It remains the largest shareholder in the Dublin and London-listed plc, holding a 28.6 per cent in the group.

[ Tirlán names Molloy as next CEO after Bergin retires ]

Tirlán said it exported about 422,000 tonnes of ingredients to almost 100 countries last year including China and parts of southeast Asia. It generated an operating profit of €68.3 million in 2023, down 5 per cent, as it sought to cushion the impact of falling milk prices on its members.

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Chief executive designate Seán Molloy said the results represented a “pretty healthy outcome”, given the pressure on prices globally last year.

Tirlán paid an average milk price to its 4,198 dairy farmer members of 44 cent per litre, down 31 per cent from the previous year.

[ Poor year for dairy as falling prices hit earnings but nitrate limit is main industry worry ]

However, Mr Molloy, who will replace Jim Bergin in the top role at Tirlán upon his retirement later this year, said the average milk price paid last year was still a historically “a good price”, being well above the long-term weighted average over 10 years.

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Turnover at the group’s ingredients business – its largest segment, representing €1.6 billion in revenues last year – was down 21 per cent while revenues at its agribusiness network, which supplies inputs to farmers, was down 16 per cent in the year to €534 million.

Mr Bergin said Tirlán continued to make progress in reducing its carbon output and its impact on water quality.

He said Taoiseach Simon Harris’s recent comments about the sector and the long-standing issue of the Republic’s derogation from the EU nitrates directive, enabling some farmers to work with higher nitrate levels at 220kg organic nitrogen per hectare as opposed to the standard 170kg, were promising.

[ Greater effort needed to extend nitrates derogation levels, IFA told ]

Other dairy groups like Dairygold and Lakeland have warned that if a new, lower limit is implemented after the current derogation expires in 2026, the impact on output volumes, farmer and processor viability and on the rural economy itself could be calamitous.

Speaking in Limerick earlier this month, the Taoiseach said he supported retaining the derogation and would work with industry and other stakeholders towards that end.

He also said the Government would look at rolling out a package of supports for farmers struggling against bad weather in the early part of the year.

[ State’s nitrates plan breaches environmental laws and should be struck down, An Taisce tells court ]

“We’re halfway through a game here,” said Mr Bergin on Monday. “It’s about protecting water quality and at the same time, taking our case to Europe and ensuring the industry is protected. But both can be achieved.”

He said: “We have heard some very, I think, helpful soundings from our new taoiseach, where he has recognised what farmers are doing. He has committed to the retention of derogation, and he has committed to coming out in a few weeks with a package to support farmers in that vein.”

Mr Bergin said the weather this year had been “desperate” for farmers.

“February, March and April are critical in our industry. We had the wettest month of February [on record] this year,” he said.

“We had a terrible month of March. Farmers are only sowing their spring crops. A lot of cows have hit their peak in very bad weather. In some ways, the business of farming in the year – based on the weather – is compromised to some degree already.”

Ian Curran

Ian Curran

Ian Curran is a Business reporter with The Irish Times

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