'Cow milk becoming pricier than dairy-free alternatives'

Cow milk, a household staple, is now at par and at some instances, above dairy-free alternatives, a recent report has found.

According to retail research company Assosia, a two-pint bottle of own-brand milk now costs £1.25 on average across four of the UK’s main supermarkets, seeing a 36 percent jump since January, while the nearest comparable own-brand dairy-free alternatives cost £1.05 for soya milk, £1.07 for almond milk and £1.24 for oat milk.

Vegan and plant-based products have always been on a higher side than their counterparts. But now with prices rising for everything from food to utility bills, milk has been hard-hit with the cost of production climbing to a record high.

The two most recent editions of Bloomberg’s monthly Breakfast Index also found that milk had the largest rise among other items including eggs, butter, sausages, tea bags, and bread.

Costs of cow feed, fertilizer and fuel as well as energy prices are pushing the milk prices to higher levels. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has impacted the production and transport of fertilizer that was used to grow feed for cattle. Also, fertilizer production capacity has been curtailed as prices for natural gas, the number one input for most nitrogen fertilizer, have soared.

Dairy producer Arla Foods pushed up milk prices in August citing the impact of extremely dry weather on the cost of feed, fertilizer and fuel.

Input costs “have all risen significantly, and like everyone, farmers are also seeing the drastic increase in energy prices,” said a spokesperson for Arla.

Cow’s milk is still by far the most popular option, with 95 percent of British households buying it over the past 12 weeks compared with 22 percent choosing alternative milks, according to Kantar Worldpanel data.

Experts are now predicting that shoppers may consider switching to dairy-free alternatives in the wake of cow milk price rise.

“If the alternatives are at a significantly different price point to dairy products, then it wouldn’t surprise me that people would experiment with other products,” Bloomberg quoted Richard Lim, chief executive officer at Retail Economics as saying.

“There are so many different alternatives and it’s a new market that’s expanded aggressively over the last five years.”