§ Sir Nicholas WintertonTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the total supermarket share of the(a) liquid milk and (b) cheese market was in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available. [148691]
§ Alun MichaelThe supermarket share of the biggest four supermarkets (Asda, Safeways, Sainsburys and Tesco) of liquid milk in 2001–02 was 36 per cent. If smaller supermarkets are included (excluding town centre and local shops) the share rises to 48 per cent. The corresponding market shares for cheese are 64 per cent. for the big four and 80 per cent for all supermarkets. Figures are from the Expenditure and Food Survey and are only available for the twelve month period ending in March 2002.
§ Sir Nicholas WintertonTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the outcome of the retail price initiatives on liquid milk and cheese during the last three years. [148692]
§ Alun MichaelThe evolution of farmgate and retail prices over the last three years is tabulated below. Last year, in a Milk Development Council commissioned study by KPMG on "Prices and Profitability in the British Dairy Chain", London Economics undertook an econometric study of various aspects of the supply chain, including price transmission. For the UK, London Economics found that increases and decreases in retail prices for liquid milk are fully transmitted to farmgate prices with a lag of five months. However, price changes at farmgate level are not fully transmitted, A 1 unit increase in farmgate price results in a 0.56 unit increase in retail price, while a 1 unit decrease in farmgate prices results in a 0.71 unit decrease in retail price. For cheese they found no transmission and for butter they found some evidence that a fall in the farmgate price of milk resulted in an increase in the butter price.
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Farmgate/Retail Milk Price Comparison July 2000—November 2003 Year Farmgate pence per pint Retail1 pence per pint November 2000 10.57 35 December 2000 10.38 35 January 2001 10.41 35 February 2001 10.33 36 March 2001 10.16 36 April 2001 10.48 36 May-2001 10.17 37 June 2001 10.63 37 July 2001 11.62 37 August 2001 11.85 37 September 2001 11.76 37 October 2001 11.63 37 November 2001 11.39 37 December 2001 11.14 37 January 2002 10.68 37 February 2002 10.40 36 March 2002 10.23 36 April 2002 9.09 36 May 2002 8.45 36 June 2002 8.73 36 July 2002 9.42 36 August 2002 9.66 36 September 2002 9.73 36 October 2002 10.31 37 November 2002 10.29 37 December 2002 10.09 37 January 2003 10.05 37 February 2003 10.03 36 March 2003 9.88 36 April 2003 9.57 36 May 2003 9.09 36 June 2003 9.39 36 July 2003 10.35 37 August 2003 10.77 37 September 2003 10.94 37 October 2003 11.14 37 November 2003 11.17 37 1The retail price is an average of one point of delivered milk and one pint of shop bought milk. Because most milk is shop bought this overstates what is actually paid per pint by most consumers. Source: Defra/National Statistics