The price of milk has been rising quickly over the past few weeks that it even went up 10p whilst doing an online food order. A shopper saw his Asda food shop increase as 10p was added to his milk.
A recent survey found that milk prices have risen more than 20% in just two months. The price has been going up by the week as last Friday (July 8) Sainsbury's priced their two pints of milk at £1.05 whilst on Saturday (July 16) it was £1.15.
Wales Online reports that a shopper saw milk go up 10p whilst on Asda's website. He said: "On Monday night I did my big shop online with Asda, which included four pints of semi-skimmed milk and four pints of whole milk.
"Both were £1.35 at the time and I completed my order. Later on I realised I'd forgotten to buy a couple of items so I logged back on to amend my order and a message popped up on the screen to say some of the prices had now changed in my basket.
"Both milks were now £1.45, they'd gone up 10p in the time it took me to remember we'd run out of fairy liquid." Milk is one of the most commonly bought items by shoppers but farmers have complained they are facing rocketing costs of feed, fertiliser and fuel.
Read more: Shop makes changes to popular goods as others urged to follow
While the prices of other staple grocery items have fluctuated, like the cost of cheese, milk is something that has risen sharply in all supermarkets in the last two months.
The price had stayed steady at 95p for the past five months, but that has risen to £1.15 in six of the supermarkets surveyed - Lidl, Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Sainsburys and Waitrose. The cheapest we found for two pints of semi-skilled milk was 89p in Aldi whilst the most expensive was £1.20 in M&S.
While some products have risen in price, milk is the one that has risen most - around 21% in two months. Dairy producers have warned that the price of milk is set to increase because of increasing energy costs, and because packaging and feed costs have increased by as much as 40%.
Data from the Office for National Statistics shows that in July 2021, milk was priced at 42p per pint. In May of this year, it has risen to 52p per pint.
Arla Foods' chief commercial officer Peter Giortz-Carlson told Sky News that input costs, driven higher by the war in Ukraine, will have to be passed on to customers.
His company sells dairy products such as Lurpak butter, Cravendale milk and Skyr yoghurt to supermarkets across the country, and said that in his 20 years in the industry, he had "never seen anything like it".
He also said that milk farmers were currently making a loss on their farms due to the rising costs of fertiliser, feed and energy. Wales Online have been monitoring the price of seven staple items for the past five months.
They are:
- two pints of semi-skimmed milk
- a box of 6 free range eggs
- pack of mature cheddar cheese
- 500g of spaghetti
- one loaf of thick-cut white sliced bread
- six Braeburn appeals
- a 12-pack of breakfast wheat cereal.
In June, Lidl was the cheapest but this month Aldi worked out the cheapest again with M&S maintaining it place in second. The basket price went up at Lidl, M&S and Aldi, but did drop in price at Tesco, Morrisons, Asda and Sainsburys.
The shopping bill for July
Here is how the different shops compared with cheapest to most expensive:
1. Aldi
Six free range eggs - £1.29 (up from 89p)
Mature cheddar - £2.19 (same price)
Two pints of semi-skimmed - £1.05 (up from 99p in May)
500g of spaghetti - 20p (down from 65p)
One loaf of white sliced bread - £1.19 (same price)
Six Braeburn apples - £1.39 (same price)
Breakfast cereal - £1.79 (same price)
TOTAL: £9.10 (up by a penny from £9.09 in June, from £8.59 in May, from £7.96 in April and compared to £8.46 in March)
2. Marks & Spencer
Six free range eggs - £1 (same price)
Mature cheddar - £2 (same price)
Two pints of semi-skimmed - £1.15 (up from £1)
500g of spaghetti - 85p for value range (up from 75p)
One loaf of white sliced bread - 70p M&S thick white super soft (up from 65p)
Six Braeburn apples - £1.75 (up from £1.70)
Breakfast cereal - £1.95 (same price)
TOTAL: £9.40 (up from £9.05 in June, and down from £9.75 in April and £10.30 in March)
3. Lidl
Six free range eggs - 95p (down from £1.32)
Mature cheddar - £2.89 (down from £1.99)
Two pints of semi-skimmed - £1.15 (up from £1.05)
500g of spaghetti - 20p (remained the same)
One loaf of white sliced bread - £1.25 (up from £1.19)
Six Braeburn apples - £1.39 (same price)
Breakfast cereal - £1.79 (same price)
TOTAL: £9.62 (up from £8.93 in June and from £9.19 in April)
4. Tesco
Six free range eggs - £1.05 (up from £1)
Mature cheddar - £3.60 (up from £3.20)
Two pints of semi-skimmed - £1.15 (up from £1.05)
500g of spaghetti - 23p (up from 20p)
One loaf of white sliced bread - £1.20 (same price)
Six Braeburn apples - £1.15 with clubcard (down from £1.70)
Breakfast cereal - £1.60 (same price)
TOTAL: £9.98 with clubcard (down from £10.38 in June, up from £9.45 with the clubcard, compared to £9.49 in April and from £10.30 in March)
5. Asda
Six free range eggs - £1.05 (down from £1.75)
Mature cheddar - £3 (down from £3.80)
Two pints of semi-skimmed - £1.15 (up from £1.05)
500g of spaghetti - 80p (same price)
One loaf of white sliced bread - £1.25 (same price)
Six Braeburn apples - £1.50 (same price)
Breakfast cereal - £1.59 (same price)
TOTAL: £10.34 (down from £11.74 in June, up from £9.99, and from £9.43 in April and from £8.94 in March)
6. Morrisons
Six free range eggs - £1.05 (down from £1.39)
Mature cheddar - £3 (down from £3.50)
Two pints of semi-skimmed - £1.15 (up from £1.10)
550g of spaghetti - 30p (up from 23p)
One loaf of white sliced bread - £1.40 (same price)
Six Braeburn apples - £1.79 (up from £1.69)
Breakfast cereal - £1.70 (up from £1.60)
TOTAL: £10.39 (down from £10.76 in June, up from £9.63 in May and compared to £10.84 in April and £10.35 in March)
7. Sainsbury's
Six free range eggs - £1.05 (down from £1.30)
Mature cheddar - £3.20 (down from £4.20)
Two pints of semi-skimmed - £1.15 (up from £1.05)
500g of spaghetti - 85p (same price)
One loaf of white sliced bread - £1.20 (same price)
Six Braeburn apples - £1.70 (same price)
Breakfast cereal - £1.60 (same price)
TOTAL: £10.75 (down from £11.90 in June, up from £10.95 in May, from £9.80 in April and £8.90 in March)
A Sainsbury’s spokesman said: “We are working closely with our farmers to help them navigate the significant cost pressures we understand they are facing, while continuing to invest in keeping prices as low and competitive for our customers as we can".
Sainsbury’s said that milk prices were also impacted by higher costs of packaging and transport, which has risen by around a third due to fuel prices.
An Arla spokesman said: “The cost of living squeeze is putting real pressure on households at the same time, the cost of producing milk has increased to an all-time high and our farmers are struggling to cover their costs, which is resulting in less milk being produced.
"The cost increases that we are seeing on farm are so significant we do have to pass some of these on to ensure our farmers can continue the supply of products into the shops." The latest price comparison of supermarkets by Which? found also that Aldi was the cheapest supermarket in June.
They compared prices for a basket of 52 popular grocery items each day during the month of June. The price tracking found that, on average, shoppers would have paid £75.61 for the basket at Aldi – which was £1.38 cheaper than rival discounter Lidl.
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