Sainsbury’s has ended a long-standing deal, which saw dairy company Arla supplying a percentage of the Big 4 grocer’s own-label milk.
The change will instead see Müller as the sole supplier of Sainsbury’s own-brand milk from February 2024.
In 2010, Arla first began supplying milk to the supermarket giant and according to reporting by The Grocer, in understood to have supplied around a quarter of its own-label milk.
A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: “We have recently updated how we work with our milk suppliers so that together we can improve how we manage supply and continue to compensate our farmers fairly and competitively.”
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An Arla spokesperson told The Grocer that Sainsbury’s “remains a key strategic partner” across its recognised brands “which are seeing significant growth within Sainsbury’s stores.”
They added that both Arla and Sainsbury’s “remain committed to their long-standing relationship.”
This comes as the grocery retailer followed Tesco in reducing milk prices in-store and online earlier this month as production costs started to decline.
Sainsbury’s is now offering its four pint own-brand milk for £1.55, two pints for £1.25 and 90p for a pint.
According to Arla, the retail price reductions come as large wholesalers have cut their prices by 5p a litre, as cows have produced more milk during the “spring flush”, which has led to oversupply.
Ocado, Aldi, Lidl and Asda have also followed suit in lowering milk prices, as Asda said the move came as “swift action” to support customers struggling with the cost of living, and Ocado confirmed the price drop looked to help customers save money on their weekly shop.
3 Comments. Leave new
It’s all very well protecting customers during cost of living crisis but farmers have families to feed and support and are not immune to the cost of living either. They may have dropped prices by 5p per litre but they’ve dropped farmers 10p per litre. The supermarkets still making a very comfortable profit whatever they may say
What about filtered milk, that hasn’t been price reduced
The minimal cut per pint in store will not make a dent in the budget of hard pressed consumers, the pain will be felt however in the dairy sector, which as with all industries has seen monumental increases in base costs