First Milk announces February milk price drop of 1 ppl

First Milk said the milk price reduction will be "disappointing news" for its members
First Milk said the milk price reduction will be "disappointing news" for its members

British farmer-owned First Milk has announced their February milk price to reduce by 1p per litre.

The dairy giant has today (16 January) announced that it will be reducing the price as a result of the "downward pressure in global commodity dairy markets in recent months".

The reduction in price follows First Milk's decision to hold its January milk price, which was welcomed by farming unions amid others reducing theirs.

Commenting on the announcement, Jim Baird, Vice-Chairman and farmer director, said: “Improvements in First Milk’s business performance meant that we could delay a milk price reduction for January.

“Recent market developments will affect our customer pricing mechanisms, however, and we can only pay a milk price linked to our returns.

“We understand that this will be disappointing news for our members and remain completely committed to doing everything we can to reduce the impact of decreases in the market through our focus on quality and efficiency throughout our business, and through the development of our strong relationships with customers. Working together, we will deliver competitive returns to our members.”

It follows news that the National Farmers' Union met with Muller in December following its decision to slash the January milk price paid to its farmers.