Milk link boosts prices

By FWi staff

SOUTHERN-BASED dairy co-op Milk Link has announced a 0.5ppl price increase, following the groups 7.5% boost in April.

A producer on every-other-day collection averaging a daily 1400 litres will now receive 20.17p for a standard litre.

Chief executive Barry Nicholls says Milk Links members are now receiving 25% more than last April.

He adds that a strategy of selling into higher value markets and a 1m cut in logistics costs has helped to facilitate the latest increase.

But only so much can be extracted from the market, and to ensure higher prices in the future there should be a restructuring of the business along the lines of European co-ops, says Mr Nicholls.

“In the medium to long term we need to invest in processing capacity and return a share of the added value created by converting milk into products.”

Members will vote on the proposed business changes on 9 August.