UK Summer heatwave results in higher milk prices - Cowsmo

UK Summer heatwave results in higher milk prices

The hike comes in the wake of a surge in wholesale prices by farmers. On Wednesday, Morrisons became the first of the big supermarkets to raise prices by up to 7.5 per cent. The supermarket’s average price for fresh milk is up three per cent after it increased the cost of a fourpinter by 5p to £1.15, up 4.5 per cent.

The price of two pints is up 6p to 86p, a rise of 7.5 per cent.

It has also increased the price of its Milk for Farmers range, with four pints up 5p to £1.38, a rise of nearly four per cent, and two pints up 6p to 97p, up 6.5 per cent.

However, farmers said Morrisons has yet to increase the premium it pays them on the range, according to The Grocer trade magazine.

The increases follow a rise in farmgate prices in recent months after worries that the summer heatwave would hit dairy farmers.

Farmers said the hot weather reduced feed for dairy cattle.

Retail consultant John Allen said: “As sure as night follows day, retail prices will follow the cost of production in the end. The lack of feed is a real challenge for dairy farmers, it’s pushing up the cost of production.”

He added that more price increases were “inevitable”.

Wholesale wheat prices hit £175 a ton after the heatwave, with some experts predicting they could rise another £20 a ton.

Cattle feed prices were already up this year following last year’s cold winter.

Experts say other supermarkets are bound to increase milk prices.

Morrisons declined to comment on the price rise.

The average price of wholesale milk has risen 19 per cent since September 2017, official figures show.

Milk is not the only everyday shopping item to be hit by soaring prices.

Vegetables in UK supermarkets have also rocketed.

Latest figures reveal the cost of popular vegetables such as onions and carrots have climbed since August.

Growers had earlier warned that some crops have fared worse than forecast and prices started to go up at the beginning of September.

Earlier this week UK onion producers said their harvest had plummeted by 40 per cent as a result of the heatwave and growers on the Continent have similar problems.

 

Source: Express

 

 

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