Daniel Kawczynski, MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham and Chairman of the All Party Group on Dairy Farming, has spoken out after the supermarket chain Tesco raised the price of milk by 1.3 pence per litre.

Daniel Kawczynski, Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Dairy Farming

Mr Kawczynski said, “it is very good news that Tesco, the largest retailer of milk in the UK, has agreed to increase the price of its milk.”

His comments come after a prolonged campaign by producer groups, the National Farmers Union and the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers, as well as other consumer groups such as the Women’s Institute, all calling for the supermarkets to offer a fair price for milk. The All Party Parliamentary Group on Dairy Farming, a group of 112 MPs and Peers, has been vocal about the need for a fair price for milk to ensure the survival of the British dairy industry since its inauguration in early 2006.

Echoing observations of the Chairman of the National Farmers Union Dairy Board, Mr Gwyn Jones, Mr Kawczynski said, “the NFU and farming groups are right to have applauded this move, but it is essential both that dairy groups maintain the pressure to achieve a fair price across the market and that these price rises are passed back down the supply chain to the producer.

“This rise will not lead to instant profitability,” he continued, “as the milk price paid to farmers is still often below production costs, but it is a first step. This small gesture is a move in the right direction: it now has to be maintained.”

Mr Kawczynski added, “I do have concerns regarding this announcement and will endeavour to ensure that this results in further supermarket action and, most essentially, that it is ultimately reflected in the farm-gate price received by our dairy farmers.”

Mr Kawczynski will be visiting the European Union’s Agricultural Commissioner later this month, where he will be raising concerns over issues facing the dairy industry and farming in Britain.

He concluded, “our dairy industry has made huge efforts over the past decade to modernise and become more efficient, but there are market anomalies in the EU that do not aid our farmers. Furthermore, Common Agricultural Policy reform must now take place, with farmers and food production in mind, not political expediency.”

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