A leading dairy supplier has admitted to having to throw away milk over the Christmas period due to too much supply.
Freshways told its farmers it had been forced to “physically dispose of milk, and this situation is expected to continue into the new year”.
MD Bali Nijjar wrote in his market update that “milk supplies have reached record levels” and that it was prepared for “worst-case scenarios”.
Therefore it has cut prices by an additional 2p per litre from 1 February, down to 29p per litre, which comes on top of several previous cuts to farmgate prices made over the past few months.
Nijjar warned he did “not anticipate prices recovering in the first six months” of 2026.
“However, please note that if actual conditions turn out better than our forecasts, we will do everything possible to minimise or even negate this decrease,” he added.
“This is a scandal that shows just how wasteful and cruel our food system has become,” said Vegan Society CEO, Libby Peppiatt. “Cows are being milked to their limits in order to produce a commodity that is now so disposable that it is literally being poured down the drain.”
Wider price cuts
It comes as other market leaders including Müller and Arla have also announced further cuts to their conventional milk price.
Arla reduced its price paid to farmers by 3.51ppl from 1 January, bringing the conventional price down to 35.73ppl, citing continued high milk supplies globally and in the EU, and flat retail sales.
Müller has also cut its price by 3ppl under its Advantage programme, bringing the price down to 35.5ppl for February.
“There is still considerable pressure across dairy markets,” said Richard Collins, agriculture director at Müller Milk & Ingredients. “Our daily milk collection volumes are still much higher than this time last year and we’re seeing further market price reductions.”
The latest data from levy board AHDB revealed milk deliveries were up by 4% at the end of December compared to the same week the year before.
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Arla and Müller slash milk prices for another month
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This has led to calls from smaller suppliers for the big players to try and encourage wider milk consumption with national marketing campaigns.
“It’s just supply and demand,” said Eddie Andrew, owner of Sheffield dairy Our Cow Molly. “They’re oversupplied with milk for various reasons, and so the marketing team need to match the demand by increasing it, rather than just sitting back, not doing anything, and expecting farmers to cull healthy dairy cows to drop the volume down.”
“Wouldn’t it be better for them to put some money in the marketing team, rather than pouring perfectly good milk down the drain, because that is just a killer for the farmers?” he added.
A broader marketing campaign would also boost morale for the industry, he said, as it would show that “somebody is doing something about it”.
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