News that Muller will hold its milk price next month will be music to dairy farmers’ ears.
The dairy giant has confirmed it will hold its current milk price of 25.9p a litre for February.
This makes it one of the higher paying processors in today’s dairy market.
Last week UK dairy farmers’ co-operative First Milk announced it would cut its milk price on February 1.
Producers on liquid contracts face a 1.6p cut to 20.1p a litre, while those on manufacturing contracts face a 2.43p cut to 20.47p a litre.
Muller said it is operating in an “extremely challenging environment”, but working hard to add value to the milk produced by British dairy farmers.
“We recognise this is a tough time for dairy farmers and we are doing everything we can to maintain a leading milk price, whilst retaining our ability to compete, particularly against processors and farmer-owned cooperatives who reduce their milk prices with little notice,” said Muller Wiseman Dairies managing director Carl Ravenhall.
“We are acting to ensure that our own processing and distribution operations are as efficient as possible, and we are placing substantial focus on further developing a diverse range of dairy products for domestic and international markets,” he added.
However, he said the dairy was unable to rule out further price cuts “to reflect the poor returns from cream and butter products and the need for us to remain competitive in a UK and international context”.
“We share industry concerns about the short-term outlook for farm-gate milk prices and look forward to seeing signs of improvement in the current imbalance between supply and demand,” Mr Ravenhall added.