Agents fight it out for cohort quota

Tuesday, 17 February, 1998

By FWi staff

A SHORTAGE of supply and looming super-levy bills have forced up the price of cohort quota, agents said today.

Cohort quota at 4% butterfat is now trading at 16ppl – up by about 4ppl from two weeks ago.

Many farmers involved in the selective cull are ringing up agents only to find that availability of cohort quota is extremely tight. Dairy farmers are “desperate” to find supplies, according to agents Bruton Knowles.

Malcolm Roberts of Howard Smith Milk Quota said: “There just isnt very much cohort quota about and thats reflected in the price. Nobody seems to have enough and prices look like going up.”

Clean and leased quota prices, however, have eased slightly since last week.

Limited supplies of clean quota at 4% butterfat are trading down 1p at about 56ppl. And increased supplies of used quota have helped push the price down by 1p to about 40ppl.

A lack of interest has caused forward leased quota prices to also ease, according to agents Hobbs Parker. Quota at 4% butterfat is currently down 0.3p and fetching about 9.25ppl.