Asda and Morrisons have become the latest supermarkets to slash the price of milk, with a four-pint own-label bottle falling in price by 10p to £1.45 in the two retailers this week.
Assosia data shows Asda also cut the price of a two-pinter, from £1.25 to £1.20, plus a six-pinter from £2.30 to £2.15. Meanwhile, a Cravendale one-litre bottle saw its price fall from £1.45 to £1.40 and a Yeo Valley Organic one-litre bottle dropped from £1.75 to £1.60.
Additionally, Cravendale, Yeo Valley, Arla Big Milk and Arla BOB two-litre bottles have all fallen in price from £2.45 to £2.30 each in the retailer.
Morrisons has made the same price cuts for its standard two-pint, four-pint and six-pint own label SKUs, while also reducing the price of its For Farmers milk – which pays a premium to its dairy farmers – by 5p to £1.30 for two pints, by 10p to £1.65 for four pints and by 15p to £2.45 for the range’s six pint option.
The price cuts follow a raft of reductions towards the end of last week, with Ocado boasting of offering “the lowest milk price on the market” last Thursday – among more than 100 price cuts across its wider food offering – when it reduced the price of four pints by 10p to £1.45, and its two-pinter by 5p to £1.20.
Aldi, Tesco and Sainsbury’s swiftly followed suit with their own cuts, meaning the price of an own-label four-pinter in the retailers has now fallen by 12%, or 20p, since retail milk prices peaked at record levels at the turn of the year.
Back then, the price of four pints hit £1.70 in Waitrose, representing an increase of 36% on the SKU’s cost in January 2022, while some milk lines saw prices rise by as much as 70% year on year, in the face of record farmgate prices.
The UK average farmgate milk price hit 51.60p per litre in December amid those soaring production costs. That average price had since fallen by 23.6% to 39.43ppl by April, according to the most recent data published by Defra and AHDB.
However, the real average is now even lower, according to anecdotal industry data, following a raft of farmgate price cuts from major processors during the past few months – prompting concerns farmers are now producing milk at a loss.
Milk has been a key driver of food price inflation over the past year.
Sainsbury’s stressed on Friday its price cuts “would not impact how much we pay farmers”, adding it was “doing everything in our power to keep prices low”.
A spokeswoman said: “We hope these continued price cuts will help reassure customers that we are passing on savings as soon as we can, especially on the everyday essentials people buy the most.”
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