Milk price war: Morrisons undercuts rivals

But Farmers for Action, a group which represents the industry, said it is the ‘last thing’ producers need and is planning protests.

David Handley, chairman, Farmers for Action, told DairyReporter.com lower milk prices across the big four UK supermarkets could lead to price cuts across all supermarkets and other dairy products.

Industry demise?​

“Tesco may look after 650 dairy farmers. The other 9,000 contribute to dairy products or ingredients and Tesco doesn’t give a damn about them​,” he said.

“We’re still losing two dairy farmers a week at this current moment of time. This price cut is the last thing the dairy industry needs. My message to farmers is, if you sit back, you’re going to see the demise of your industry.​

“This has got to be stopped. This is not about us being against the consumer having cheap food. We’ve got a high value product, that we’re consistently improving, and they just turn it into something that’s cheaper than water.​

“We’ve decided there’s only one course of action, and that is protest, and I hope we get the full backing of the industry."​

24p a pint​

Morrisons is bringing the price of its Meadow Park milk down to 84p for 2L, the equivalent of 24p a pint.

Tesco announced it was reducing the price of a four pint bottle from £1.39 to £1 (25p a pint) on Monday, matching ASDA. Sainsbury’s followed suit during the week.

ASDA has been selling its four pint bottle at £1 for 13 months

Morrisons said its price cut is being funded by the company. “The price paid to dairy farmers is unaffected by the promotion​,” it said. Tesco and Sainsbury’s also claim their reductions will not impact milk producers.