Farmers slam supermarket milk and butter price cuts as 'kick in the teeth'

Ellen O'Donoghue

Farmers have branded the reduction of the supermarket price of milk and butter as a "kick in the teeth."

Tesco, Supervalu, Centra and Aldi have followed Lidl's lead in cutting the cost of their own-brand butter and milk.

The Irish Farmers' Association said that the Government must look for support for liquid farmers.

IFA liquid chairman Henry Dunne told Newstalk that it is a blow for farm owners who are already under pressure.

"It’s really disappointing, a bit of a gut punch to be honest, with all the rises in costs we’re incurring at the moment, in all sectors between energy and fertiliser, and the costs the liquid farmers incurred all winter with the lower base price of milk," Dunne said.

He described the move as disappointing for suppliers, saying the cuts could have serious consequences for producers.

"We’ve lost, I think, it’s 32 per cent of fresh milk producers have been lost in the last ten years. We just need stability, I think, across all areas, just stability, holding, not making any rash decisions."

Dunne added that rash decisions are being made, which farmers are "going to pay the price for, which is really unfortunate.

"It’s very, very disappointing."

However, consumer affairs correspondent with The Irish Times, Conor Pope, has said that grocery prices are still likely to rise over the longer term.

"A lot of the stuff that we’re seeing now on global markets in terms of commodities and in terms of supply chains, we saw after Russia invaded Ukraine, and if that template is replicated, well then you’re going to see much higher grocery prices, and that’s a kind of nightmare scenario."