With effect from 1st December 2014, First Milk will reduce the price for its liquid pool by 1.4 pence per litre and for its manufacturing pool by 1.8 pence per litre.
Chairman Sir Jim Paice MP commented: “The major reason for this drop is that liquid and cheese returns have fallen over the last month. With cheese specifically, this impacts not only on what we are selling now, but on the price that we can sell our cheese stocks in the future.
“Additionally, we have been processing the majority of surplus milk supplied this year into skimmed milk powder. Returns from this market have declined further over the last month as many companies, particularly in mainland Europe, have increased stocks.
“The harsh reality is that prices are continuing to fall for dairy products everywhere in the world. As a board we have to balance the interests of individual farm businesses with the interest of the business owned by the same farmers. We have to set prices which reflect what we can achieve for the eventual product.
“We will continue to take whatever steps we can to reduce the impact of these negative market conditions, and ensure that the business is in the best possible shape when the market turns.”
