Protest as Lidl tries to cut milk price

One was at Livingston, West Lothian, where 150 angry dairy farmers, about 10 per cent of Scotland’s remaining producers, held up distribution for more than three hours.

Alex Wilson, a dairy farmer in the Borders and a member of Farmers for Action, who helped co-ordinate the protest said yesterday: "No-one can understand what Lidl is playing at. When I was told they had cut the price by 1.3p a litre from 1 May, I simply couldn’t speak.

"We’re fighting for price increases and an attempt by any retailer, even a small player like Lidl, to cut the price to its suppliers simply cannot be accepted."

Lidl, a hard-line, German-owned discounter with more than 350 stores in the UK, along with Aldi, Netto, and several smaller businesses has 4 per cent of the UK retail grocery market. Its management refused to comment yesterday.

Wilson said that in the past year the big food retailers - Asda, Tesco, Safeway, Sainsbury, and Marks & Spencer - had shown more interest in working closely with their suppliers and were conscious of their image with the consumer.

The fear is that Lidl, with no public image to worry about and a don’t-care attitude, might still set a price-cutting precedent as the shrinking band of dairy farmers in Scotland - at present working round a base price of about 16p per litre, but getting less during the spring flush of milk which increases quantity and lowers quality - try to negotiate a better price for the autumn.

Wilson believes that can be done. He also believes that Lidl must reinstate the price cut, but does not understand why it tried to make it.

He said: "What is the point? Cutting our price by 1.3p a litre will knock more than 10,000 a year off the average dairy farmer’s annual return, but passed on to the consumer it would take about 6p off a week’s shopping."

It is understood that David Handley, chairman of Farmers for Action, met Lidl management yesterday to tell them that farmers would not accept the price cut.

Robert Graham jnr, of Robert Graham Dairies, the processor which buys from farmers and supplies Lidl, said that because of commercial sensitivity he had reluctantly decided not to comment.

But John Kinnaird, NFU Scotland president - many of the Livingston protesters were union members - said Lidl was using bully-boy tactics.

The price cut, he said, "beggared belief" as dairy farmers struggled to stay in business with returns below cost of production. He added: "This heavy-handed attempt by one retailer to flex its muscles must not be the thin end of the wedge.

"We need assurances from other retailers that they will take a more sensible and responsible approach."