Its ‘2016 Member Support Package’ comes after it paid an estimated €30M to members of the Society for 2015.
The package will include at least €21M of milk price support, equating to an average of at least 1 cent per litre (cpl) on all milk supplied by members in 2016.
This move comes at a time when dairy farmers are being paid well below the price of production for milk.
Glanbia Co-operative Society chairman Henry Corbally said the current weak state of global dairy and grain markets made it a very challenging time for its members.
Support
“The board of the society recognises that 2016 looks likely to be a difficult year for our members and has resolved to provide support at this challenging time,” he said.
“We are today pleased to announce details of a 2016 Member Support Package worth at least €35.6M.”
Also included in the package will be support worth an estimated €4M consisting of a rebate of €7 per tonne on all 2016 feed and fertiliser purchased from Glanbia by members, estimated to be worth 0.15cpl to a typical milk supplier member purchasing all feed and fertiliser from Glanbia.
This support will also include: a €5 a tonne rebate on green grain and €2 a tonne on dried grain subject to a minimum spend of €40 a tonne on qualifying inputs.
Finally, a dividend totalling €10.6M, share interest of 25 cent per share will be paid to all members.
€67M support fund
This package will use a portion of the €67M support fund created by the society’s sale of four million Glanbia shares in May 2015.
As part of the same process, a spin-out of 10M Glanbia shares to society members in September 2015 unlocked €170M of value created in the group for distribution to members.
Corbally said: “Farmer members are paid a competitive market price for their produce, and also benefit from the value created in Glanbia plc.”
Separately, the board of Glanbia Ingredients Ireland (GII) recently confirmed that in 2016 it will pay out the entire proceeds of the “additional cash bonus” from Ornua (formally Irish Dairy Board) on manufacturing milk supply.
This followed Ornua’s announcement that it would pay an “additional cash bonus” of €15M to its member suppliers, of which the GII portion is expected to be in excess of €3M.
The Glanbia Co-operative Society is Ireland’s largest co-operative, with more than 15,000 members and a current value of €1.9bn.