Brian Rushton Cowed

Brian Rushton,

From Friesian to freezer

THE past few years have seen a desperate fight for market share among Britain’s supermarkets, sharpened by the relentless rise of Aldi and Lidl, two successful German-owned discounters. Tesco, the biggest, Asda, Morrisons and others have reported some of their largest-ever losses. They might have been hoping for a period of relative calm to restructure their businesses and repair their balance-sheets. No such luck.

Thanks to a string of changes affecting the world dairy industry, most significantly the end of European Union quotas on milk production, falling demand in China and Russian sanctions against EU dairy producers, there is a glut of milk. That has led to falling prices everywhere. Britain’s dairy farmers, says Phil Bicknell, head of food and farming at the National Farmers’ Union, have experienced brief price drops before, but nothing on this scale. Except for a brief respite in February, prices have been falling every month for well over a year. And it could get worse.

Milk producers have been venting their anger and frustration on the supermarkets, where most of the stuff is...Continue reading

via Brian Rushton, Cowed