Free milk to retailers ‘should cease’
ICMSA president Jackie Cahill said that the campaign was short-sighted and not in the interests of either consumers or dairy farmers and called on the co-op to cease the tactic immediately.
He said Glanbia is offering very substantial incentives to retailers to switch over. A deal where retailers receive one week’s free supply of milk in every eight weeks had been noted, in addition to other incentives.
Mr Cahill claimed these offers are being subsidised by farmers supplying Glanbia and are being made at a time when the group’s milk price has not fully reflected the general increase in the sector and other dairy product prices worldwide.
IFA Liquid Milk Committee chairman Eamonn Bray said all liquid milk producers, whether or not they supply Glanbia, were angered by recent reports that the group was seeking to increase its market share in some parts of the country by making Avonmore-branded milk available free of charge to certain shops.
He called on Glanbia to discontinue the practice, which is only possible, he said, at the expense of their suppliers, and flies in the face of retail price increase trends all around Europe.
