WMN letter - milk prices: Retail vs. farm

Dear Editor,

Pippa Woods is quite right to complain about the way milk prices have fallen since 1996. It is even more illuminating to look at the retail price over the same period.

According to statistics produced by the milk development council the average price of milk sold on the doorstep has increased by 25% during that period whilst supermarket prices, having shown a slight dip at the beginning of the millennium, are about the same. During that period doorstep deliveries have more than halved.

What this means is that farmers such as Pippa have suffered a decline in price of around 25% whilst the majority of retail milk is being sold at the same price. It is the dairy farmers that have suffered whilst supermarket monopolies are increasing their profit on milk. If farmers are not able to make a decent living out of milk production the West Country will soon be a land of honey but no milk!

Yours sincerely,

Mike Treleaven