The boss of dairy giant Arla has warned that there could be butter and cream shortages in the UK this Christmas.
The wholesale price of cream and butter has more than doubled in the past year and gone up by more than 20% in the last month.
Peder Tuborgh, chief executive of the farmer-owned firm which is one of Europe's largest milk co-operatives and the UK's largest milk buyer, said the shortage will bite across Europe.
He told BBC Radio 4 programme Today: "The first sign we will see of it, is that the price of butter rises very sharply. We've already started to see that and there's more to come.
"There's simply no more milk. At the moment we are striving to get more butter and cream out of our producers.
'Overblown'
He said the milk shortage had come about because producers 'hit the brakes on' last year in order to compensate for over-production which led to lower prices on supermarket shelves.
But the National Farmers' Union said Mr Tuborgh's comments were 'overblown and scaremongering.'
They said farmers are not going to ramp up production any time soon.
"The constant boom and bust dairy market cycled helped no-one, most of all farmers," they said.
"It's no surprise that milk buyers are worried about milk volumes falling. Confidence within dairy farming is at an all-time low - mistrust in the market dynamics and suspicion about how milk buyers are treating their supply base coupled with the lack of direction on the impact of Brexit on the dairy sector."
