Müller said the protest by up to 80 members of the pressure group Farmers for Action (FFA) on Sunday (August 7), made “no sense whatsoever”.
But FFA chairman David Handley accused Müller of ignoring market conditions.
“It’s very easy to just stand back and make that sort of statement without looking at the marketplace,” Handley told FoodManufacture.co.uk.
“The marketplace for dairy at the moment is clearly showing a rapid increase back to processors.
“It shows a return to an extent that some milk processors have been able to move as much as 4.8 pence per litre [ppl] to pay extra to farmers. If all these others are reflecting those increases, then why is Müller not passing that money to its producers?”
The protest was sparked by Müller’s decision to hold its standard milk price for September at 18.66ppl.
However, Müller had increased the price of its formula milk by 0.5ppl based on the current market, claimed Handley.
“That clearly shows Müller recognises the markets have moved. Then why are they refusing to increase farmgate prices going forward?” he asked.
‘Refusing to increase farmgate prices’
Müller defended its decision to hold the price of milk, despite the action taken by the FFA.
A spokeswoman for Müller said: “Disrupting a business with a track record for offering a competitive milk price to farmers and investing in the UK dairy industry makes no sense whatsoever.
“The organisers of this disruption are not suppliers and should not claim to represent the 1,900 farmers who do supply us.”
Handley described the response as “typical Müller” and claimed many of these farmers were asking FFA for help.
“A number of those are non-aligned producers who are not supplying a direct contact with the supermarkets,” said Handley.
“Some of them are our members asking for our help.
“Again their press statement is flawed. Their own people are physically asking for help and that is why we took action.”
Handley explained that FFA was ready to take further action against Müller and was already planning to approach supermarkets, in order to gain support for its members.
“We are going to show them [the supermarkets] what the market has done in the past three months and we want them to ask Müller ‘why have you not passed this money back to farmers?’”
Müller said it would take “whatever measures we can to protect our business”. But Handley replied FFA was ready for whatever Müller threw at it.
‘Beat them hands down’
“The last one who took FFA on was a ‘very small’ company called Walmart and we went to high court over similar issues and we beat them hands down,” claimed Handley.
“So if Mr Müller wants to go in that direction, he’s fully free to do so and I would say bring it on.”
Meanwhile, National Farmers Union dairy board chairman Michael Oakes supported the decision to protest, citing the last 18 months as being “the toughest the UK dairy sector has faced”.
“Protesting is the last straw for many farmers and the NFU will support peaceful, targeted protests that have a clear objective,” said Oakes.
“We can clearly see that the tide has turned as low UK milk volumes drive domestic prices upwards – we need these increases to be reflected on farm as soon as possible.
“On Müller specifically, we have already called for their UK management to explain to their suppliers why the September price was held and how the Müller strategy will support a vibrant, positive supply base. That call remains.”
What they say about the protest
Müller: “Disrupting a business with a track record for offering a competitive milk price to farmers and investing in the UK dairy industry makes no sense whatsoever.”
FFA: “[Müller’s] press statement is flawed. Their own people are physically asking for help and that is why we took action.”
NFU: “Protesting is the last straw for many farmers and the NFU will support peaceful, targeted protests that have a clear objective.”