Tipperary Co-op’s annual report for 2023 has finally been published and it reveals the extent of the difficulties the co-op faced last year.

The processor made a trading loss of €6.8m, and had an overall loss for the year of €8.77m after taxation charges.

The downturn in dairy prices during the year helped drive the value of sales to €304m, down from €421m in 2022.

Milk intake at the co-op was also significantly back, dropping by 36m litres to 244m litres. Much of that drop was driven by a 30% fall in milk purchased for processing from other co-ops.

Tipperary also faced operational challenges as delays in completing upgrades to equipment resulted in significant unplanned downtime during peak milk months and lower yields.

Higher staff costs and a doubling of financing costs to over €4m during the year also playing their part in the disappointing performance for the year.

John Hunter, who was appointed as interim CEO of the business earlier this year, told the Irish Farmers Journal: “The main issues of last year are mostly gone. There are still some legacy issues to deal with, but product price increasing this year allows some room for margin for the co-op.”

On how the processor is trading this year and the outlook for the business Hunter said: “We’re targeting getting close to breakeven this year and returning to profit in 2025.”

He said that while cost-cutting would play a part in that, growing value streams in fat-filled powders and increasing plant efficiency will also increase returns.

Tipperary Co-op’s Annual General Meeting is scheduled to be held on Monday 30 September, and while there may be questions about the financial performance of the operation in 2023, the meeting is likely to be dominated by questions around the on-going talks on a possible merger with neighbouring processor, Arrabawn.

On those talks, Hunter said that he is happy with how they are progressing.