Supermarkets join Asda in bowing to pressure and pledge to pay more per litre – but amount still less than estimated 30p litre cost of producing milk

Aldi, Lidl and Morrisons are to raise the price they pay their suppliers for milk, bowing to growing pressure from dairy farmers who say the industry is in crisis.



Discounters Aldi and Lidl have promised to pay a minimum of 28p a litre from Monday, following talks with farmers, while Morrisons pledged 26p a litre from later this month.

The promised increases come after Asda said on Thursday it would also pay 28p a litre. The current average price paid to farmers is 23.66p per litre. The four supermarkets promising rises have declined to say what price they have been paying.

However, even the higher prices would still be below the estimated cost of producing milk of 30p a litre and campaigners pledged to continue their protests over the weekend.

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The National Farmers Union has warned that dairy producers are facing a “state of emergency” after the price they are paid for milk has fallen by a quarter over the past year. The campaign group Farmers For Action organised protests against Asda, Morrisons, Aldi and Lidl that have included blockading distribution centres and walking two cows around a supermarket in Stafford.

Protests against the four grocers will be halted while agreements over the new price for milk are finalised. David Handley, chairman of Farmers For Action, said: “I wouldn’t class it as a big victory. This is the start of a realisation by retailers that something had to be done. It is a pity it needed a bit of protest to get them to the table.”

Handley said farmers were still concerned at the amount that supermarkets and the food services sector pay for cheese and yoghurt, and there could be a push to increase the price of liquid milk further.

Tesco and Sainsbury’s have been spared from protests so far because they have agreed to pay dairy farmers based on the cost of production of liquid milk, but they could be among retailers targeted over the weekend.

“For other retailers who haven’t even bothered to pick the telephone up, I am afraid it is open season,” Handley said.

The increase from Morrisons comes just days after the Bradford-based supermarket said it would launch a new milk brand called Morrisons Milk For Farmers which will cost 10p more per litre than its standard own-brand milk, with the premium paid to dairy farmers.

The company will now also launch a new Milk for Farmers cheddar cheese, which will cost 34p a pack more than Morrisons’ standard cheese.

Morrisons said: “We know that the dairy farming community faces a tough winter. This month, we will continue discussions with our cheese processor about other initiatives that will help their dairy farmers.”

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Tony Baines, managing director of buying at Aldi, said: “Aldi has wide-ranging, long-term commitments to British farming and this new price agreement is the latest example of our support for the sector.”

The NFU welcomed the supermarkets’ announcements. In a joint statement, the NFU, Tenant Farmers Association and Farmers for Action said: “After our conversations we are pleased that Morrisons has recognised the need to support the dairy sector at this difficult time. Morrisons must continue conversations with its processors on a regular basis. And it is absolutely vital that the extra money goes back to British farmers – we cannot emphasise this enough.

“Further work is needed within the cheese sector and we will continue discussions with Morrisons on this issue.

“Our main concern at present is that any relief within the cheese sector is being funded by price increases to customers. We believe there is sufficient margin within cheese sales which should avoid customers having to pay more.”