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 January.

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, which means that 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.

January Milk Price Tracker

Milk prices seem to have finally bottomed out, with all co-ops holding relatively steady for January milk supplies.

After six months of prices continuously dropping, farmers will be relieved to finally see a steady pay cheque.

However, the squeeze on farm margins will be sorely felt as prices do steady out, considering base price is down 15.26c/L on this time last year.

Processors are offering an average of 35c/L for January supplies, down 13.63c/L from the average base price for June supplies, which was 48.63c/L, before prices began to plummet.

Arrabawn Tipperary co-op is the only processor offering a reduced price this month, after falling back 1c/L to a base price of 34.25c/L.

Carbery held it's milk price, but did confirm a market support payment of 2.5c/L to its suppliers.

This has resulted in its four west Cork co-ops of Bandon, Barryroe, Drinagh, and Lisavaird, all offering an increased milk price.

This bumped the four co-ops to the top of the base price table, with Lisavaird offering 36.92c/L and Drinagh at 36.91c/L, while Bandon and Barryroe are both paying 36.83c/L.

Lakleand Dairies remains at the bottom of the table with a base price of 32.75c/L, however the processor is boosting milk cheques with a series of bonuses.

Cost of production is still estimated to be over 37c/L, with farmers using strong calf sales to prop themselves up finacially for the spring.

The Ornua Monthly Purchase Price Index (PPI) is down from 121.9 in January to 121.6 in February.

However, the Global Dairy Trade (GDT) Price Index recorded its fifth consecutive rise in 2026 earlier this week.

Farmers are still not expected to see strong recoveries in their milk cheques until Q3 this year.

Despite milk prices remaining steady, farmers will experience a cut in their milk cheques as farmers flat-rate addition is reduced from 5.% to 4.5%.

January bonuses and penalties

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

With regard to the latest Milk Price Tracker for January, the following explanatory notes (all bonus and penalty payments are based on manufacturing milk) apply.

Unconditional bonuses

ArraTipp pay a 3.87c/L (ex VAT) Winter bonus payment of which applies to all milk volumes that meet quality criteria.
Aurivo are paying a 4c/L (excl. VAT) early milk payment on January milk supplies.
Boherbue are paying a milk price top up of 2.39c/L for January supplies
Carbery are paying a 2.39c/L (excl. VAT) to the four West Cork Co-ops. These Co-ops paid this as part of their A and B price for January.
Dairygold is paying an Early Calving Bonus of 7c/L (excl. VAT) on all milk that meets a balanced scorecard.
Kerry Dairy Ireland are paying a base price top up of 2.87c/L (excl. VAT) on January supplies, this was paid as part of their A and B price for January.
Lakelands are paying an unconditional Early calving bonus of 0.95c/l (excl. VAT) on January supplies.
Lakelands are paying an unconditional Input support payment bonus of 1.9c/l (excl. VAT) on January supplies
North Cork are paying a supplementary 0.475c/L (excl. VAT ) on January Supplies 
Tirlán pays an seasonality bonus of 7c/L (excl. VAT) for milk supplied in January  that meets quality criteria

Conditional bonuses

ArraTipp pays a 0.4c/L (excl. VAT) bonus on all milk with a somatic cell count (SCC) less than 200,000 cells/ml;
ArraTipp pays a 0.712/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 an SCC of less than 200,000 cells/ml;
In September 2022, Carbery began to pay a sustainability bonus of 0.5c/L to farmers who have committed to Carbery’s futureproof programme. This is 1.25c/L for 2025 and is paid on all milk supplied by farmers who have signed a sustainability pledge and complete three actions. This is paid in January each year;
Dairygold has a maximum bonus attainable by farmers who achieve the minimum requirements for six criteria (total bacteria count (TBC); thermoduric; sediment; SCC; lactose and inhibitors). This cumulatively amounts to 0.4c/L (excl. VAT);
Dairygold has a 1.06c/L grassroots sustainability bonus payment for water quality, protected urea, soil health, education, milk recording, herd health and Sustainable Dairy Assurance Scheme (SDAS);
Kerry Dairy Ireland are paying a sustainability bonus of 1.35c/L (excl VAT) for a range of measures. This payment was introduced in January 2025. This includes the 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;
Lakeland is paying a 4.5c/L (excl. VAT) out of Season bonus if a farmer supplied of 40% of their May 2025 milk in January 2026.
North Cork pays a 0.2c/L (excl. VAT) bonus on all milk with an SCC of less than 200,000 cells/ml;
North Cork pays a 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 a 0.25c/L (excl. VAT) bonus on all milk with an SCC of less than 200,000 cells/ml;
Strathroy also pays a 0.25c/L (excl. VAT) bonus on all milk with a TBC of less than 10,000 cells/ml;
Strathroy pays a 0.5c/L (excl. VAT) sustainability bonus, this was introduced in January 2024;
Tirlán is paying a sustainability action payment of 0.47c/L (excl. VAT) .