Selkley Vale to switch supply away from Dairy Crest

Members of milk supplier group Selkley Vale have given notice to end their contract with Dairy Crest in favour of supplying Cadbury’s Leominster factory direct.

The group of 63 producers supplies between 70 and 80m litres to Dairy Crest, but has announced the contract will end from 1 October next year.

“We have been on the lookout for becoming a direct supplier for a while,” John Wildy, chairman of the Selkley Vale Group said. “We hope that it will be a profitable move for us.”

Cadbury uses about 200m litres of milk each year from First Milk and Dairy Farmers of Britain, which supplies about 90% of milk to the Leominster factory.

According to Stephen Bradley of milkprices.com, Cadbury said its milk supply was at risk with DFB supplying so much of its milk.

But it is keen to continue its trading relationship with the co-ops.

Lyndsay Chapman of Dairy Crest said they were disappointed Selkley Vale had ended their contract. “In the scale of the milk we buy it’s not a huge amount to lose, but we are disappointed they have decided to serve notice,” she said.

“They are not leaving for a year, so we will look into filling the gap left by them at a later date. We won’t be rushing into anything.”

DFB was unavailable for comment.