Retailers increase Milk Price
Published 9 March 2007

Tesco and Sainsbury have announced that they have increased the price of liquid milk . Changes are as follows:

1 pint - 33p to 35p
2 pints - 64p to 66p
4 pints - £1.11 to £1.15

This price rise is equivalent to an increase of 1.7ppl in the price the consumer pays. Tesco gave the reason for the price increase implemented on March 6 as "increased costs across the supply chain". A proportion of this increase is expected to be passed back through the supply chain to farmers.

Similarly Sainsbury's said that the decision to increase their price on 8 March followed a recent meeting with suppliers Dairy Crest and Wiseman Dairies who put forward the farmer's case for an increase. As a result Sainsbury's have agreed an increase in the cost of milk that they buy and asked the processors that this be passed back to the farmer.

As yet, no details of farmgate milk price changes as a result of this retail price increase have been announced.

Historically, differences in the retail price of liquid milk between the major multiples do not last for long and it may be expected that other multiple retailers will follow suit and increase prices in the next few days.  How much will be passed back to farmers from other retailers will depend on the success of negotiations between milk processors, retailers and farmers representatives.