Too late for British farmers but too much, too soon for an army of food processors that are now threatening consumers with a swingeing round of price rises in products from butter to chocolate. The global gyrations in dairy prices, buffeted by Australian drought and surging Chinese demand, have not yet affected the price of liquid milk on your doorstep.

The home-delivered pint is almost unchanged at 48p per litre, according to the Milk Development Council. Gwyn Jones, head of the National Farmers’ Union’s dairy board, reckons that doorstep milk could eventually rise by a penny but the main impact will be on processed foods and cheese. Within the past year, the supermarket price of a pint of double cream has risen from 91p to £1.12, a increase of almost a quarter.

Mr Jones, who has a 750-strong dairy herd in Sussex, reckons more dairy products will feel the squeeze. “As we go into the summer it will feed through into supermarket shelves. Cheese prices will have to go up,” he said.

Source: Times Online