Helping Hand from Morrisons to Pick up Dairy
UK - The UK supermarket giant, Morrisons, has announced that it will be extending its support for the British dairy sector with a new initiative to give greater support to suppliers.
27 May 2008
2 minute read
The move was praised by the National Farmers' Union (NFU) which they said will see Morrisons offer regional milk to local consumers at no extra cost. Together with the creation of a Morrison's producer group, and steps to increase returns to dairy farmer suppliers through its two liquid milk processors, Dairy Crest and Arla, is seen as a step in the right direction by NFU dairy board chairman Gwyn Jones.
He said: "I support Morrison's for seeking to inject some further confidence and profitability into the dairy sector. With milk production declining in the UK Morrison's is sensibly seeking to secure their supply of milk.
"The NFU Vision for the dairy industry supported moves by retailers to get closer to dairy farmers in order to break down the barriers of mistrust, create clearer market signals and generate better transparency. In this respect today's announcement is significant and welcome.
"There is no doubt the dairy industry has experienced something of a roller-coaster ride in the last 12 months. While supply and demand dynamics are changing for the better, milk production still continues to fall and there are risks of much greater volatility in commodity markets ahead.
"The NFU fundamentally believes that dedicated chains with proper contractual pricing arrangements for farmers are an important part of achieving a sustainable and profitable British dairy industry in the long term. The price increases that Morrison's has announced are very welcome but are also likely to be much smaller once shared amongst the pool. For these reasons we want to see Morrison's go further by establishing not only a direct, but also a dedicated relationship with their farmers. To this end our talks with Morrison's will continue".
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