October 19, 2005

Prospects of UK dairy industry look encouraging

David Curry, chairman of Dairy UK, has expressed optimism over the UK's dairy industry as it underwent changes at a time when milk prices were drastically low. His comments came at a recent dairy show in Wales.

Curry said a sharp fall in the number of UK dairy farms contrasted with a 4.9 percent rise in Welsh production since 1996. He added that England's milk production fell 4.8 percent, while that of Scotland and Northern Ireland rose 4.8 percent and 26 percent respectively over the same period.

According to Curry, more producers in future could find security by linking directly to processors, co-operatives and retailers. He added that farmers with bigger herds who were able to minimise costs and run on family labour had potential for the future.

While Curry acknowledged that recent milk prices were low, he said prices in the longer term should improve with development of stable contractual relationships and value-added products.

Strong global demand for milk was also expected to help improve prices. In addition, reports indicated there was potential for moving more into cheese making as UK cheese sales were rising annually.