Falling milk prices and the volatility in global dairy markets were put under the spotlight during a recent meeting of dairy farmers in Carmarthenshire.
Aled Jones, NFU Cymru Dairy Board chairman, met with a group of local dairy farmers at an on-farm meeting kindly hosted by Simon and Sian Davies and family at Brynhyfryd Farm, in Hebron near Whitland.
Speaking at the meeting, Aled Jones, a dairy farmer from Caernarfon said, “The recent rapid falls in farmgate milk prices, on the back of downward shifts to global dairy commodities, is putting severe pressure on dairy farmers throughout Wales as we head into winter. There’s no doubt that this volatility presents us with some significant challenges and that the confidence of dairy farmers has been rocked by these recent price cuts.
“With the vast majority of the milk that we produce here in Wales being processed into cheese it’s high time that the rest of the supply chain take more responsibility for their dairy farmer suppliers. Whilst some supermarkets have established dedicated supply relationships with dairy farmers that supply liquid milk, very little effort has been devoted by the large retailers to establishing a commitment to dairy farmers producing cheese. We need to see transparent pricing structures being implemented throughout the supply chain for these products that are sold in Welsh and UK supermarkets to help secure their future supply and to protect our dairy farmers from the damaging market volatility that we’re seeing now.”
Carmarthenshire NFU Cymru County Chairman Rhys Jones, a dairy farmer from Llanwrda, said, “We understand that we’re part of a global market and are therefore exposed to this volatility in dairy commodity prices. However, we should not forget that we also have a strong domestic market for liquid milk, cheese, butter and many other processed dairy products right here in the UK and this should cushion us against the worst extremes of this price volatility.
“We need to see processors and retailers working with us as dairy farmers to see how maximum value can be added to the milk that we produce and to deliver a sustainable milk price back to Welsh dairy farmers. What we don’t want to see is the supermarkets continuing to aggressively discount the price of liquid milk and using it as a loss leader to drive footfall into their stores. This retail price war on liquid milk only serves to devalue the product in the eyes of the consumer and is highly damaging, as it undermines the efforts of dairy farmers who work hard to produce a high quality and nutritional product.”
David Handley from Farmers for Action said: "That fight is not over yet by a long way."
"FFA said at the beginning of the milk campaign the first phase was to hold price drops, the second phase which we now enter is to recover some of the money that has disappeared within the supply chain. Is that going to mean further protests, definitely but we are also going to have to communicate with the consumer in the form of a leaflet drop at supermarkets explaining why dairy farmers have had to resort to this action.
"It is time that Sir Jim Paice came out and told the truth with regard to First Milk. This slow death being imposed on its dairy farmer members cannot be allowed to continue and we call on every industry representative to apply pressure to First Milk's management to open its books and let us all see how much longer First Milk will be with us."
