IFE March 2009 Industry Comment from Richard Clothier, third generation family member & Managing Director, Wyke Farms
01
Mar
Desperate times call for desperate measures - that's what we're told anyway. With the current state of our challenging economy and dwindling milk supplies, the question over who controls the supply chain is becoming more and more prominent.
For retailers, 'exercising caution' in the current economic downturn inherently means they must resist the temptation to be aggressive with suppliers. Although this may feel like a natural course of action under growing pressure, retailers must keep in mind that the farmer supply-base is extremely fragile.
As we all know, the supply of dairy commodities sourced from within the UK remains very low in comparison to previous years, and putting additional pressure on cheese, butter and liquid-milk prices could push yet even more dairy farmers out of the industry. In effect, this means that if the market were to experience another increase in world demand for milk products, we would not have a milk supply base to support our UK demand.
