Coles lifts milk prices, but Woolworths and Aldi haven't yet

It shows that Coles is adjusting the price on shelf as required to meet the cost of getting milk into its stores. The market is working like all other products, which is all the industry ever wanted.

It also highlights that Coles is a market leader in paying farmers a fair price for the milk. Many of my members in southern NSW have made it clear to me that Coles has had a positive impact on their business in the past four years. And the next three years are positive given the contracts they have with Coles in a time of considerable uncertainty with milk prices, especially in southern Australia.

At this stage, Woolworths and Aldi have not lifted their milk price to match Coles. A logical question is why? Perhaps they are playing games to try to get some brownie points with consumers at the expense of the dairy industry but will lift prices in the coming weeks?

Or perhaps Woolworths and Aldi do not have the same cost pressures since they pay farmers less for their milk? I think in many areas of Australia, especially where Coles has direct supply with dairy farmers, this is likely to be the case.

Whatever the reason, Woolworths and Aldi are unlikely to be making more than a very small margin on milk. Matching the Coles price increases would be a welcome move by the industry and would allow price increases to farmers and processors for milk at a time when costs are increasing substantially. It would also allow processors to increase their brand's wholesale prices to allow further small price increases to processors and farmers.

So Woolworths and Aldi, please help the dairy industry by matching the Coles price increase.