Controversial Milk Price-Cut for Wiseman Farmers

By Laura Elliott.

As reported by The Grocer, the NFU has criticised Robert Wiseman Dairies for introducing a “catastrophic” cut to milk prices, which will affect their farmers badly.

The Wiseman Dairies are now part of the Müller Group. This week, they announced a 1.7ppl reduction to the price it agrees to pay its farmers for their milk. The price-cut will come into effect on 1 August this year.

The Dairy has been quick to blame the reduction on a fall in the value of cream over the past year. Despite this, NFU have denounced the move, and particularly the fact that the Dairy has blamed the cut on the cost of cream.

Mansel Raymond, the NFU dairy board chairman, asked “How can it be right for a processor to just pass this loss on to their farmer suppliers?”

It is no surprise that the move has been seen as unjustified and unfair, considering the fact that UK retailer Sainsbury’s has today announced that from 1 July, it will increase the standard milk price paid to its 324 farmers in the Sainsbury’s Dairy Development Group. They will see an improvement of 0.26ppl, to 30.56ppl.

Some farmers in the Sainsbury’s group are also Wiseman farmers, and their membership to the Sainsbury’s branch is expected to protect them from Wiseman’s price-cut.

The price increase from Sainsbury’s in the first since the retailer changed its dairy farmer pricing model earlier this year, to one which bases the prices on the cost of production.

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Posted by admin on Jun 29 2012. Filed under Europe, Events, Fresh Produce, International, Latest News, Product News, Retail News, Supermarkets. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry