Cricketer Farm, the UK cheese maker, has set out plans to stop making and packing cheese early next year after a period of "significant financial losses".
The company said "all contracts and commitments" will be fulfilled but has proposed "all operations will cease in early 2016". Seventy staff will be affected.
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Cricketer Farm cited the "lack of growth" in the UK retail channel, which it said had reduced and demand and increased competition. The business has lost a contract to supply "a major customer" from January, which it said was "integral to the decision to stop production".
The business also said the global dairy sector was "in turmoil" due to an oversupply of milk products. It also pointed to the strength of sterling, which it said had "devalued" UK exports, and the lifting of EU quotas on milk production in April.
"Market volatility has forced the UK dairy market into a period of uncertainty and consolidation, which is reshaping the industry to be dominated by international dairy powerhouses, focused on global strategies. This makes it impossible for a business like Cricketer Farm to look ahead with confidence and having suffered significant financial losses over the last financial year, it is not viable to continue with such uncertainty," the company said in a statement. "The Cricketer Farm directors are forced into this conclusion as they see no realistic prospect of cheese prices being at sufficient level to provide satisfactory returns to both processor and farmers."
Speaking to just-food, MD Greg Parsons said the business would continue to trade until June "and possibly beyond" as it has a farm shop and other rented properties on site. "We are also working with EDF to provide some buildings for rental and possibly a park-and-ride for the new nuclear power station nearby," he said.
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By GlobalDataParsons said he wanted to keep the company's The Cheeky Cow brand on the market. "I will be busy at Cricketer until June and will consider my future in early 2016, but I hope that I am able to keep the Cheeky Cow brand going, especially as we go national in the Co-op in four weeks."
He said UK cheese maker Joseph Heler could produce for The Cheeky Cow brand. "Joseph Heler are an option for making Cheeky Cow, but we will have Cricketer cheese available until mid-2016. We also plan to take the brand beyond cheddar so there could end up being a number of manufacturers making products for us."
