Dairy and eggs
Organic dairy results can be found here on the DairyCo website.
Dairy Market Overview - Spring 2012
As detailed in the Organic Market Report 2012, total organic milkproduction decreased by anestimated 15% during the past 12months. Organic milk sales aredown around 9% year-on-year,although supply and demandis currently in balance, thanksin part to strengthening exportmarkets in the EU for UK milk. The real issue is that liquidorganic milk is losing groundon supermarket shelves. Itdoesn’t help that some of thesupermarkets have been slashingnon-organic milk prices in a bidto attract customers. In the UK,just 2.7% of milk drinkers choseorganic milk last year, equatingto around 142 million litres – about a 1/3 of the total organicmilk supply of 420 millionlitres. On a positive note, 97.3%of UK milk drinkers could still beconverted to drinking organic.
After all, organic milk is cheaper than filtered milk, with proven health, welfare and environmental benefits. So let’s hope that Yeo Valley’s rebrand in early March attracts more interest to organic dairy products as a whole. Market conditions are of real concern for many producers. According to the latest Kingshay data, margins have closed slightly, showing the gap now at 4.5ppl on a rolling average. Although margins may have closed, the long-term trend of rising fertiliser prices means that organic producers (especially) those who focus on maximising milk from forage may be achieving similar results, particularly as organic feed prices have come back slightly over recent months. Of course, every farm is different so it’s important to do the sums individually.
Tim Perrett is senior producer adviser at the Soil Association
Organic Egg Market Overview - November 2011
Egg producers who supply the multiple retailers have had an extremely difficult trading year, and many are now looking to diversify into additional enterprises to help contribute towards the substantial financial investment in poultry infrastructure. The message seems clear: an increased egg price is desperately needed.
Astrid Toner is Senior Producer Advsior at the Soil Association