Dairymen battle cheap imports

Press, 6 December 1979, Page 25

Dairymen battle cheap imports

By

KEN COATES

in Lon<

don Dairy farmers in England and Wales are taking the unprecedented step of advertising the value r 'f the nation’s 45,000 milkmen and the tresh muK they deliver daily to the doorstep. The reason is that the delivery service, described as “the envy of the world, and a vital and dynamic part of the nation’s health,” is under threat. The prospect of cutprice European milk flooding into Britain, which now is a distinct possibility, is sending shivers of apprehension through the dairy industry.

The fear is that it could lead ultimately to the end of doorstep deliveries and a slump in milk consumption.

The threat began earlier this year when Continental milk co-operatives planned to ship milk to Britain in litre cartons, to be sold at cut prices by supermarket chains. Under British law, milk can only be packed and sold in pint containers and it must be packed in premises licensed by local councils. Rebuffed, the European producers took Britain to the European Court of Justice on the grounds that its regulations discriminated against other European Economic Community members. Last month, the court ruled that Britain must obey the E.E.C. metric rules and allow milk to be sold in litre cartons. Now is seems all that

stands between Continental producers and British consumers are tenuous hygiene regulations, such as the milk being packed in Britain in premises licensed by local councils. These rules must also be abolished, according to the Common Market Commission officials, and there is pressure from Europe’s farming interests to get rid of them by next year. The fear by the British dairy industry is that once the door is opened to milk from the Continent it will eventually seriously affect the distribution system. The danger, according to one spokesman, is that some European farmers are prepared to accept lower prices for their milk for some time to get a

foothold in the British market. It is estimated that Dutch, French, and Irish competitors could undercut British prices, particularly if bulk sales in supermarkets were established. This would lead to a drop in doorstep deliveries and that in turn wouk. put up the price of delivered milk. The milk round would become increasingly less viable because of supermarket competition and there would be a drop in consumption. With supermarkets grabbing an even greater share of the market, doorstep deliveries would finally disappear. The effect of a price war is seen as bad enough. But what -worries

farmers and dairy; men even more is the impact on milk consumption. In the Netherlands when doorstep deliveries ended, there was a 40 per cent drop in consumption. One possible defence is to insist on health and hygiene regulations which take every precaution against foot-and-mouth disease, which is endemic throughout Europe. But while anything that would add to wasteful and expensive overproduction of milk seems ridiculous, the British are already arguing that E.E.C. regulations be adhered to for sale of their lamb in France. European milk producers will argue just as strongly that the rules should be adhered to for milk.