Cheesemaker Barber’s announces April price rise
© Barber's The cheesemaker Barber’s has announced a 1.25p/litre increase in its standard litre price for April.
This will mean that the price has risen by 9.5p/litre since September 2020.
The rise will take the standard litre price, based on 4.1% butterfat and 3.28% protein, to 36.5p/litre.
This equates to 37.55p/litre, if based on milkprices.com manufacturing standard of 4.2% butterfat and 3.4% protein.
See also: Read the latest from Farmers Weekly on dairy prices and trends
Barber’s said it would be a new record milk price for the cheesemaker and the business was working hard to secure from customers the cost recovery required for the increasing milk and processing costs it was facing.
It has been estimated that Barber’s commercial team will need to secure an extra £20m a year from customers just to cover the milk costs alone.
“The unprecedented rate of increases, in addition to our need to also secure the inflationary processing costs impacting the business, are requiring diligent negotiation with domestic and international customers to detail and substantiate the ‘new reset value’ of dairy,” it said.
Cheese outlook
Inflationary pressures are being seen across all global dairy market trading platforms, with prices reaching historic levels.
Cheddar markets continue to see extremely tight stocks, with cheese curd now reported to be trading at a record £4,000/t – virtually the same price as mild cheddar – when normally it would be around £100-£150/t cheaper.
As a consequence, this is limiting the amount of curd being aged to become mild and mature cheddar, which traders anticipate will put further upward pressure on cheese prices as stocks tighten.