More pain for regions dairy farmers
June 14, 2011
Woolworths announced last week that their generic private label drinking milk has now been re-tendered and Murray Goulburn Co-Operative will continue to supply all their store brand milk in southern NSW and northern Victoria.
Federal Member for Murray, Dr. Sharman Stone said this was a sad day.
“What happened to Murray Goulburn being able to simply put on supermarket shelves their own milk brand so people could see where the milk had come from?
“People could then develop some trust in the brand and each time they picked up a carton or bottle of milk, they could be assured that the milk had come from the same healthy and well looked after dairy herds,” Sharman Stone said.
“The Coles and Woolworths duopoly are both determined to ultimately have at least 80% of home brands in their stores, given these are much more profitable lines for them, when compared with taking our branded products directly from the manufacturers.
“The food manufacturers will always be under pressure to supply the contents of store brands as cheaply as possible. Or they simply lose the contract to whoever can do it even cheaper.
“It has to be acknowledged that Coles’ were the first to erode the confidence of the dairy industry by slashing prices down to $1 per litre for milk, even though there is very little change in demand for milk no matter the price.
“We have to hope that Woolworths doesn’t simply rush after Coles as it tries to maintain market share, gobble up competition and really squeeze down the prices paid to their fresh food and manufactured food suppliers,” Sharman Stone said.
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