One pint of milk now over 60% more expensive than in January

Soaring inflation in dairy is showing no sign of slowing, with a spate of new price increases hitting the mults.

Over 160 fresh milk and butter lines have seen price rises over the past six weeks, analysis of Assosia data shows.

Key own-label milk lines, such as two and four pints, remained at the £1.15 and £1.45 price points they rose to earlier this summer in most major supermarkets. However, Morrisons broke ranks in mid-July with a 10p hike in the SKUs to £1.25 and £1.55 respectively.

Other notable rises included a 12.7% increase in the price of a one-pint bottle of milk in Morrisons, from 79p to 89p. It means the SKU is now 61.8% more expensive than it was on 3 January.

Of the 102 fresh milk price increases in the big four, Waitrose, Aldi and Lidl between 11 July and 15 August, the biggest price hike was a 45% jump to £1.45 for a litre of Arla’s Cravendale in Asda. The same SKU increased 27.6% to £1.85 in Morrisons.

Meanwhile, a 1l bottle of Dairy Manor semi-skimmed milk in Lidl rose by 21.1% to £1.05.

Six pint milk bottles are also seeing rises, with most lines now at £2.15 across all retailers apart from Morrisons (which is at £2.19), representing increases of between 26.5% and 36.9% across the selected retailers, when compared to the SKU’s price on 3 January.

Two pints of milk now at same price as four pints at start of 2022

There were also 63 price increases across the block and spreadable butter categories. Arla’s Lurpak saw the highest price increase since 11 July – with its 750g spreadable SKU rising by 28.6% to £6.75 in Asda.

Other standout increases included a 26.1% hike in a Sainsbury’s So Organic 250g block to £2.90, while brands including Country Life, Kerrygold and Anchor saw price hikes of between 15% and 25% in Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Asda respectively.

The ongoing inflation seen across the dairy category comes as Defra’s most recent average GB farmgate milk price hit 42.66 per litre in June, up 5.8% on the previous month – on the back of a host of price increases by major processors due to soaring on-farm costs.

However, separate analysis of more up-to-date farmgate increases by Kite Consulting suggests the true market average is now well over 45ppl.

So-called agflation (based on the rising cost of farming inputs) was estimated at 23.5% in July by farming consultancy Andersons – far higher than this week’s announcement by the ONS that soaring consumer price inflation had hit 10.1% last month, up from 9.4% in June.

Rising energy prices were expected to continue to drive agflation up in terms of fuel, fertiliser and feed costs for the rest of this year “and beyond”, warned Andersons.