DAIRY farmers in Wales’s biggest milk-producing county fear that many will be forced out of the industry unless milk buyers pass on a greater share of recent commodity price rises.

With the market outlook improving and supply down by 10% on last year’s production, farmers in Pembrokeshire are frustrated that buyers are slow to share that price benefit.

Jeffrey Evans, who runs a spring calving herd at Broadmoor Farm, Wolfscastle, says producers’ patience is wearing thin.

The business he runs with his wife, Elinor, won’t see the full benefit of First Milk’s recent 2p a litre price increase until December due to a combination of the company’s six-week payment policy and its split-payment system. Even after this rise, Mr Evans calculates that his milk price will only be 22p a litre.

Although banks have been largely supportive of their dairy farmer clients, Mr Evans worries that this approach cannot be sustained.

“There is continued pressure on cashflow and a failure to replenish bank overdrafts. Banks are noticing that the spot milk price is lifting but are not seeing it filtering back to farmers.’’

Mr Evans, vice county chairman of NFU Cymru in Pembrokeshire, has taken steps to improve his milk income by delaying calving by a month, to March 1st, to offset the impact of seasonality penalties. But he says the benefit has been negligible this year.

As winter approaches and inputs increase, he says farmers are losing money for the second year.

“We can survive another year at these prices. Our costs are increasing and we just aren’t getting paid enough to cover them.’’

The NFU Cymru Milk Board has stepped into the milk price row by accusing processors of ‘dragging their feet’ over price increases.

Its chairman, Aled Jones, described the gap between most producer prices and commodity prices as significant.

“All the price indicators point towards a milk price of 25ppl if not more, yet the reality for most farmers is that milk prices are still around 20ppl,’’ he said.

“Global prices are continually moving upwards and the last GDT auction saw the third consecutive increase. The AMPE and MCVE price indicators have moved dramatically upwards and are now 26ppl and 28ppl respectively for August 2016. Yet the farm-gate price remains around 20ppl.

“This all points to the conclusion that processors are very slow to respond to market improvements. When the market takes a downturn, farm-gate prices respond immediately and processors reduce their price overnight. We need to see a similar reaction when the market turns upwards and farming businesses need to see the benefit in their farm-gate prices.’’