Coles wary on milk price rise

COLES says it is willing to stop selling milk for $1 a litre but only if all its rivals also lift prices and the extra money goes back to farmers.

Chief executive Steven Cain yesterday declared he would not increase the price of the key shopping basket staple while other supermarkets kept theirs low, calling for an “industrywide solution”.

The decision to continue selling $1-a-litre milk prompted a blistering attack from Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud, who called on shoppers to boycott Coles and Aldi over their milk pricing. The high-profile intervention comes after Woolworths won applause from the dairy industry for moving this week to end $1-a-litre milk and pass on to farmers a price increase of 10c a litre.

“We are happy to move forward but we don’t think a limited response is the right approach,” Mr Cain said.

“One thing I can’t do as the CEO of Coles is to disadvantage our customers at a time when household budgets are under strain.

“What I do want to do is get to an industrywide solution as fast as I can that covers all retailers and preferably all milk brands where we see additional funds being channelled directly to the farmers.”

Aldi took a harder line, saying it would not be lifting its price.

“Aldi has accepted significant cost price increases in recent times from our milk processors to properly reflect market conditions,” corporate buying managing director Oliver Bongardt said.