Warning over milk price cuts

Published on Tuesday 6 January 2009 20:49

THE pressure group Dairy Farmers of Scotland has issued a challenge to processors and retailers following cuts in the ex-farm price of milk, warning that producers will quit the sector in droves.

The statement was blunt, saying: "If you can produce high quality milk and make a profit at 25p per litre, go ahead and do it, because we can't."

Farmers are clearly outraged that milk buyers are suggesting that price cuts are a necessity in the face of the global situation. Liquid milk sales account for more than half of UK production. The average supermarket price of a litre of milk is 67p, yet many producers will now be receiving less than 25p for the same volume. A litre of mineral water costs more than milk.

The statement went on: "Although being some of the most efficient in Europe, UK dairy farmers have been at the bottom of the EU milk price league. They have been experiencing their own recession for years, so much so that thousands have left the industry, leaving us to import up to one million litres each day as of the end of last year.

"Anyone can see that with sterling falling against the euro and the dollar, failure to pay the remaining farmers enough to cover production costs will result in increased reliance on imports and higher costs to consumers."

The wider farming industry has been calling for the appointment of a food ombudsman to oversee the supermarkets, but so far there has been no action on this front, much to the annoyance of Dairy Farmers of Scotland.

"Surely we cannot allow the same greed and exploitation that has seen chaos in the financial sector to affect our food markets, but it is happening right in front of our eyes," the group said.