Austria kicks-off downward milk retail spiral

“The start of a downward spiral in milk prices‚” is how Austrian market experts view plans for substantial reductions in retail dairy product prices.

The discounter chain Hofer, a daughter company of Aldi, has announced that its pasteurised drinking milk is to be reduced by €0.04/litre and butter by the equivalent of €0.40/kg. Current milk retail price in Austrian discounters is around €0.90/l. Hofer, with 20% market share amongst the country’s grocery outlets, says that increased supplies of milk from European farmers this month have given the starting signal for the new reductions. Dairy farmers claim that the discounter is simply passing on milk at wholesale prices to the consumers.