Glanbia has contingency plans in place for a range of scenarios in the event of milk collection and processing being interrupted as a result of the coronavirus.

All Glanbia Ireland facilities continue to operate to their planned capacity levels for this time of year.

“We can also assure you that huge work has been done in the plants to ensure that they are in the best possible position to handle the challenges ahead and to minimise the chances of any impact on milk collection.

“We have assembled a pool of back-up staff and have protocols in place across all the key areas,” the processor said in an update on Monday.

It warned as of Monday it remains “confident that we can continue to process all milk supplied in line with your supply forecast”.

However, it said that “this is a very dynamic environment evolving on a daily basis”.

Milk supply at peak

The current Glanbia weekly milk supply is around 70m litres, which it said is slightly behind forecast due to the cold weather and sluggish grass growth.

“Our forecast for peak supply is over 90m litres per week, so volumes will continue to ramp up in the coming weeks.

“In terms of tanker loads, we are collecting 2,600 loads per week currently and are planning for around 3,350 loads in peak week,” it said.

Glanbia Ireland said that through Dairy Industry Ireland (DII), it is collaborating with all stakeholders to make every possible effort to ensure that all milk produced on farms can continue to be processed and marketed.