Müller Wiseman has increased the price it pays UK farmers for their milk for the second time in a month.
The company, which was at the centre of protests from farmers this summer over milk prices, will up its price in two stages.
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Farmers will receive 0.5p per litre extra from December, taking the price they receive to 29.5ppl. in February, they will get another penny, meaning they will be paid 30.5ppl.
Farmers that supply Tesco and Sainsbury’s will not receive the increase as those groups have their own pricing arrangements, the processor said.
Müller Wiseman said it wanted to help farmers cover higher costs. “We want to return a higher milk price to farmers so that we can ensure security of supply for our customers in an environment where off farm milk production is dropping,” Ronald Kers, CEO of Müller’s operations in the UK and Ireland, said.
The Muller Wiseman Milk Partnership Board, which represents farmers that supply the company, welcomed the price increase. However, there have been indications from other farming groups that blockades of the processor’s sites could be held to secure a better price.
“We would ask those behind recent militant activity to respect the fact that we are the elected representatives of all dairy farmers who supply the group,” Roddy Catto, chairman of the partnership board, said.
“Blockades of the kind recently seen in Shropshire risked undermining the progress of these discussions and it is time now to build a relationship that is based not on disruption and ultimatums but on constructive dialogue.”
Kers added: “We are determined to be the leading dairy company in the UK and Ireland and the preferred home for milk produced by Britain’s dairy farmers and we will work closely with the farmer board to this end. For this reason we cannot be distracted by localised and unlawful militancy promoted by people many of whom have no connection with the group whatsoever.”
