Cost of living crisis: Pint of milk now approaching £1 as concerns raised for vulnerable families

The News Letter has noted that in the past few weeks a pint of milk has jumped from around 77p a pint to 97p.

Ulster Farmers Union Policy Officer, Chris Osborne, told the News Letter. “Yes - we would work in litres as opposed to pints but those are the sort of figures coming through to us from a retail level.”

One pint is roughly equal to 0.56 litres.

For ten years he said the retail price for milk was about 70p per litre.

"Liquid milk was resistant to inflation – until now – the increase at the retail level is a direct reflection of unrelenting inflationary pressures.

"There was maybe a 10p jump over maybe three months ago and then things accelerated over the last two or three weeks.

"The supermarkets have decided they don't want to make such a loss on it as a loss leader anymore. They are having to pay their own increasing bills."

The same pattern is happening right across Europe., he says.

The average farmer will get around 45-46p per litre of the current retail price per litre of £1.15.

And although their farm gate prices have improved, the position of dairy farmers is still "precarious" due to rising costs.

In the past year red diesel rose from 60p to one £1.12 and fertilizer from £350 to £700 a tonne.

Dairy feed is up 50% and electricity costs per cow have risen from £40 to £180, he added,

Farmers may eventually get "some more" of the dramatic increased but it is likely that it will only be "a little" of the overall surge.

Siobhan Harding, Research and Policy Officer with the Women's Support Network, said she has noticed the price of milk almost doubling.

"I recently paid £1.85 for two litres and I used to get four litres for £2," she said.

"It has almost doubled and if you are buying milk for a family you are really going to notice it because your income certainly hasn't doubled."

She works with women's centres across NI that support women in deprived areas with childcare and education.

"These are the conversations that we're having with women and they're really feeling it. Those on the lowest incomes feel inflationary rises much worse because these are much higher for the most basic items like milk and bread - all the things you need to feed your family."

She said inflation is currently around 10% but food inflation is running at about 17%.

"Their benefits haven't increased to keep up and if they're in low paid work, many of them haven't seen raises to make ends meet."

According to her research about 50% of women in deprived and rural areas have used high cost credit to cover their food costs and about 60% had missed debt repayments.

Her advice for anyone in such a situation is to seek advice from somewhere like Advice NI quickly.

"We also want such women to know that they're not struggling on their own and that this is their fault, but is part of a much bigger problem."

Contact Advice NI on 0800 915 4604.

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