THE wholesale price of Jersey Dairy milk has today risen by 15p per litre as farmers continue to battle ‘significant’ surges in industry costs.
Supply chain issues and market volatility – brought about by several factors including Brexit and the war in Ukraine – have been cited as some of the issues affecting profitability at local farms.
The Co-op, SandpiperCI and Waitrose have declined to comment on whether the wholesale price increase will be reflected in an increase on milk at the tills.
It is the second time in less than a year that the price of wholesale milk has increased, after it rose by 8p per litre in February last year, which at the time was blamed on farming costs rising at a ‘magnitude not seen for many years’.
Jersey Dairy warned today that cost increases – particularly for fuel, imported feed, fertiliser, and wages – were continuing to ‘hit farms hard’, and that it was also facing inflationary hikes on raw materials, packaging and fuel, among other things.
The company said that a recent independent review indicated that local dairy farmers ‘need an urgent increase’ in the price they get for their milk.
Phil Le Maistre, a dairy farmer and the chairman of the Jersey Milk Marketing Board, said: ‘We fully understand the challenging times that all our customers are currently experiencing with the rising cost of living. However, it is essential that Jersey Dairy implements this price increase now if we want our dairy farms to have a sustainable commercial future.’
He added: ‘[This will] ensure the future of our iconic Jersey cow in her Island home, continuing their environmental stewardship of our beautiful countryside, along with the significant contribution they make to local food security with the wide range of nutritious products produced from the milk they supply to Jersey Dairy.’
Eamon Fenlon, the managing director of Jersey Dairy, said that all of the income raised from the price increase ‘will be passed back to our dairy farmers’.
‘However, this will be insufficient to address in full the farm profitability issue that has been identified, and hence price increases will also be implemented in our export markets. Government are also exploring how they can play their part in addressing the situation,’ he added.
Economic Development Minister Kirsten Morel said there was an ‘understanding’ that consumers would be impacted by the wholesale increase, but also stressed that farming industry costs had risen ‘significantly’.
‘The price of fertiliser, energy, antibiotics, imported feed, have all gone up,’ he added, noting that funding for farmers had this year risen to £3.17 million.
The government’s agriculture budget last year was just under £2.5m and the year before it was around £1.5m.
‘We have to support the industry and sharing the cost between government and consumers is a fair way to do so,’ he added.
‘Jersey without a dairy herd wouldn’t be Jersey.’
