In a conflict not dissimilar to that between French dairy farmers and supermarket chains, UK milk suppliers are marching in protest against what they say are unfair prices paid for their produce, BBC.com reports.
Protests have been taking place outside the outlets of Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons across the UK.
In response, Sainsbury’s stated, “Our retail price is not related to the price we pay our farmers. Our milk prices are competitive for our customers, while also paying our dedicated dairy farmers a fair price that protects them against volatile markets."
Morrisons' commercial director, Darren Blackhurst, said, “We try to pass on lower prices to our customers wherever possible.
"We do recognise, however, due to reduced global demand, that this has created an oversupply of British milk, creating difficult conditions for many dairy farmers at present."
The British Retail Consortium has supported this notion, positing that supermarkets are not culpable in this regard. As its director of food and sustainability, Andrew Opie, observed, "It's absolutely wrong to look at retailers here. Retailers are actually doing the right thing – they are paying the best prices – but these are global conditions outside their control."
© 2015 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Peter Donnelly. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
