Glanbia announces 2016 grain pricing

Glanbia has announced a range of support measures for its members who supply grain.

Glanbia Chairman Henry Corbally has confirmed a Glanbia harvest 2016 intake of over 190,000 tonnes, making Glanbia by far the largest buyer and user of native Irish grains.

He said that Glanbia fully appreciates the challenging situation facing Irish grain growers in the fourth successive year of weak global grain markets.

Harvest prices from Glanbia for 2016 are set out in table 1. Henry Corbally said: “Our strategy for a number of years has been to move as much grain as possible out of commodity markets and into premium niche categories. Over 40% of our total intake now attracts some level of premium or bonus; this is worth around €2m in total to growers compared to the equivalent non-contracted grains. This is a far higher proportion of overall grain contracted than any other merchant in the country.

In order to assist growers, the Board of Glanbia Co-operative Society has confirmed a number of measures to support member growers:

• The Board has allocated €5 million for grain growers who wish to participate in the Glanbia Advance Payment (GAP) Scheme. This voluntary five year Scheme offers interest free cashflow support of €20 per tonne to Glanbia member suppliers.
• In light of the very challenging year for growers, the Board has decided to double the level of Co Op support for members from last year to €10 per tonne.
• As part of the 2016 Member Support Package, grain grower members will be paid a rebate of €7 per tonne on all fertilizer purchases from Glanbia.

Table 1: Glanbia prices* for 2016 harvest crops

*Prices quoted exclude VAT

Glanbia also offers growers the opportunity to contract ‘dry and store’ their grain using Glanbia grain handling facilities. This allows growers to participate in gains from future market improvements, should that occur.