UK dairy farmers face price cut shock as major processors cut milk payments
Freshways cuts 7p a litre from 1 December; Arla trims 0.45p as sector struggles with oversupply and rising costs
UK dairy farmers, already reeling from a year of below-cost milk prices, drought and soaring input costs, faced a new blow this week as two large milk processors announced fresh cuts to the price they pay for liquid milk. Freshways, a big processor supplying corner shops and wholesalers, said it would slash its price by 7p a litre to 29.4p from 1 December, almost wiping out the combined 9p increases it gave over the past two months after the summer drought. Arla Foods, one of the three biggest UK processors, also announced a 0.45p a litre reduction in its standard milk price to 40.41p a litre.