Westbury ups milk price while unveiling plans to add value

Westbury Dairies will pay milk suppliers more from this month after admitting that its prices were "untenable" and among the lowest in Europe.

The news came at the official opening of Westbury Dairies, when chairman Sir Ben Gill said that the increase would be achieved through a "significant reduction in processing costs" and adding more value to products.

At an average of just 17.55p/litre, Westbury had been paying the lowest UK price to farmers, according to July figures from MDC Datum, the marketing information service of the Milk Development Council, which showed Dairy Crest paying the highest average price at 20.96p/litre.

Gill claimed that Westbury would become the most efficient and flexible manufacturer of creams, butters and skimmed milk powders in Europe.

"There has been a chronic lack of investment in the processing food industry," he said. "The price passed on to farmers has diminished. We need to turn it around and we need efficient processing capacity." That would include operating as many 20-hour runs as possible, to cut cycle start-up, close-down and cleaning costs.

Gill also said Westbury was moving into added-value products, such as higher butterfat milk and functional dairy foods. The dairy is also considering supplying the bottled water market, using some of the 800,000l produced every day as a by-product of milk processing. "The future has got to be added value," said Gill.

Dairy farmers are already feeling the effects of recent changes in the milk supply market.

Arla announced that from the start of last month it was cutting its milk price by 0.4p to 19.12p/litre while Robert Wiseman said it would continue to pay 19.73p/litre.