Milk price increases are step to industry recovery says NFU
UK - Dairy Crest and Robert Wiseman dairies were commended by NFU Cymru’s Milk Board during their meeting yesterday for increasing milk prices with effect from 1 November by 0.2 and 0.4ppl respectively. The increases come on the back of sustained rises in commodity butter and cream markets.
25 October 2006
2 minute read
The move echoes the NFU’s Vision for the Dairy Industry which calls for transparency in milk prices to reflect rising market returns with higher prices paid to farmers.
NFU Cymru Dairy Board Chairman Mansel Raymond, speaking at the Board meeting held at Haverfordwest Cheese Ltd said, “This milk price increase is a small but correct step towards recovery in the dairy industry.
“Dairy farmers have been able to see, via the Milk Development Council and other sources, quite clearly the bulk cream market has improved since the beginning of the summer. This has generated higher revenues for milk processors who slashed farm gate milk prices partly because of falls in the commodity markets earlier this year.
“The only appropriate response in this situation is for liquid milk processors to increase farm gate prices and we are very pleased Wiseman’s and Dairy Crest have done this in an open and transparent fashion.
“However there is still a very long way to go. As our recent survey showed, there is a massive gulf between milk prices and production costs and these modest increases only begin to make inroads into that for a relatively small number of producers. This is why NFU Cymru is pressing ahead with its invoicing campaign.
“Much more effort is needed to recover this pricing ground and prevent the loss of critical mass and an impending meltdown in the industry.”
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