The UK’s largest supermarket Tesco has cut the price of its milk to customers for the first time since May, 2020, as farm gate prices continue to fall.
The move will ‘not affect’ farmers, according to the retailer – although all processors have announced price cuts to farmers in recent weeks. The consumer price drop will see a four-pint bottle reduce from £1.65 to £1.55, whilst two pints will be cut by 5p to £1.25. A single pint will also fall by the same amount to 90p.
The supermarket explained that its costs for buying in milk had declined, so it had decided to pass that reduction on to customers.
Jason Tarry, Tesco's UK chief executive, said the move would not affect the price the retailer pays to its farmer suppliers. "We've seen some cost price deflation for milk across the market in recent times and we want to take this opportunity to pass that reduction on to customers.
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“This will not affect the price we pay our farmers," he said. "Our Tesco Sustainable Dairy Group was set up to ensure that farmers across the UK get a fair, independently-set price for the milk they produce for us.
"Our model gives farmers security when the market price for milk falls below the cost of production and reflects our long-standing commitment to our farmers."
It follows First Milk announcing a substantial milk price fall for its farmer suppliers from next month, declining by 3.4p per litre. Dairy farmers supplying Muller and who meet the conditions of the processor's Advantage scheme, will also see an May milk price decline of 2.5ppl.
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