UK food chain must be efficient
Friday, 30 November, 2001
By John Burns, south-west England correspondent
our November
Milk Price Review
SHORTENING and improving the efficiency of the UK food chain must be given top priority if West Country farming is to prosper.
Several speakers at the NFUs Out of the Ashes conference at the Bath and West Showground, Somerset.
UK dairy farms are the biggest in the EU and operate relatively efficiently, and UK consumers pay more for milk than their Dutch counterparts.
Yet UK milk producers get 15-20% less for their milk than Dutch farmers, said Gerard van Empel, managing director of Rabo International Advisory Services, part of the Rabobank Group.
This was nothing to do with currency – it was due to the relative inefficiency of the UK food chain, he added.
“Consumers pay a price, then everyone takes off their costs and whats left goes to the farmer. Thats how the food chain works.
“You have to get it more efficient rather than asking consumers to pay more,” he said.
There was much scope to improve operational efficiency in Britain, Mr van Empel added. In the UK many factories were in the wrong place or too small and milk was “carted all over the place”.
NFU vice-president Michael Paske concurred: “Its time we did something to eliminate the links in the chain that cost us money and only deal with people who add value to our products.”
November for October 2001 deliveries (updated monthly)
COMPANY
This
month
Last
month
Transport EODC
(ppl)
Transport flat rate
(ppl)
Transport volume
(ppl)
Bactoscan/
total bacteria
(ppl)
Somatic cell count
(ppl)
Butterfat
(ppl)
Protein
(ppl)
Seasonal
adj (ppl)
Price/std
litre (ppl)
EODC Price/std
litre (ppl)
Rolling avge price
Nov00-Oct01
Wiseman Aberdeen
1
2
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.50
0.50
0.90
0.34
2.00
22.51
n/a
20.01
Nestlé England (Dalston)
2
1
-0.46
-1.09
0.00
0.20
0.00
9.10
12.10
2.00
22.31
22.93
19.84
Nestlé Scotland (Girvan)
3
3
-0.46
-1.09
0.00
0.20
0.00
9.10
12.10
2.00
22.31
22.93
19.84
Wiseman Central Scotland
4
4
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.50
0.50
0.90
0.12
2.00
22.29
n/a
19.89
Midlands Co-op
5
5
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.20
0.38
0.00
0.00
1.50
22.00
n/a
19.96
Glanbia Scotland (Lockerbie)**
6
7
-0.23
-0.18
0.00
0.30
0.20
7.10
11.26
2.00
21.77
22.07
19.35
Express Dairies
7
11
0.00
0.00
0.25
0.80
0.60
5.73
9.10P
1.00
21.29
n/a
19.24
First Milk – Northern
8
12
0.00
-0.45
0.10
0.30
0.20
8.12
11.45
1.40
21.21
n/a
n/a
Golden Vale****
9
13
-0.25
-0.30
-0.58
0.40
0.30
8.89
10.07P
1.00
21.08
21.72
19.21
Lancashire Dairies**
10
14
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.63
0.57
0.00
0.00
0.00
20.84
n/a
20.13
Arla Foods** (Premier)
11
15
0.16
0.45
0.00
0.60
0.60
6.97
3.30P
0.00
20.49
20.65
19.76
Wiseman England
12
9
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.50
0.50
0.90
0.12
0.00
20.47
n/a
19.81
The Milk Group
13
16
0.20
0.00
0.00
0.30
0.50
9.32
9.33
0.00
20.45
20.65
19.66
South Caernarvon****
14
6
-0.57
-1.10
0.00
0.00
0.00
8.00
11.28
0.00
20.27
20.81
19.83
United Milk
15
19
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
9.50
10.60
0.00
20.10
20.10
n/a
Zenith
16
20
-0.25
-1.07
0.30
0.30
0.30
6.77
9.08
0.60
19.97
20.49
18.10
Southern Co-op
17
10
-0.38
0.00
-0.40
0.20
0.10
10.05
9.67
0.00
19.86
19.89
18.82
Wyke Farms
18
18
-0.38
-0.73
0.00
0.10
0.00
7.86
10.86
0.00
19.79
20.15
19.22
Bodfari
19
17
0.30
0.00
-0.30
0.40
0.20
8.36
11.09
0.00
19.75
20.35
19.68
MilkLink
20
21
0.70
-1.04
0.10
0.30
0.30
8.36
11.27
0.00
19.28
19.88
18.36
First Milk – Southern
21
22
0.06
-0.54
-0.68
0.30
0.30
8.04
10.89
0.40
18.75
19.30
n/a
Dairy Crest (Unigate Business Deal)****
22
8
-0.45
-1.27
0.00
0.30
0.30
3.45
3.70
-1.00
18.47
18.80
18.89
- Milk Price Review (historical). Large file – allow time to download