I was out doing my shopping in Iceland last week – Mrs The Dealer is a demon for the good deals.
I saw that Iceland’s milk was retailing at €2.60 for two two-litre cartons. This essentially means that a two-litre carton was costing the consumer €1.30. The floor for this type of milk is €1.49 per two-litre carton. I nearly spat out my flavoured milk drink. The milk is provided by Northern Ireland processor Strathroy.
The Cunningham brothers behind the Omagh-based processor are no shrinking violets when it comes to sending value milk to retailers ,especially over the peak summer months for milk production.
I have since heard on the dairy grapevine (that’s a thing) that other retailers are considering following the lead of Iceland. This would see retailers reducing the price of a two-litre carton of milk to at or near the €1.30 mark.
I know the IFA has made manys a song and dance over retailers using liquid milk as a loss leader. The Dealer is all for competition in the market but not at the expense of the farmers and using an imported product to drive down the price of a quality product.
I’m not sure who makes money on a two-litre carton at that price but it sure isn’t the farmer. What the resilient liquid milk farmer doesn’t need is the retailer and the processor degrading their product.
Still no Irish Farmers Journal endorsement for shed painters