A SIXTH price rise since April is taking the standard price for farmers supplying First Milk to 32.5ppl.

The co-operative, which is supplied by hundreds of members in west Wales says the price rise is on the back of improved profits from its core business and moving milk into the skimmed milk powder market to take advantage of higher prices.

First Milk is also seeing significant progress from a focus on brand development, lifestyle nutrition, the out of home sector and exports.

The company’s new chairman Sir Jim Paice said: “My ambition is to chair a business which ensures that First Milk members get the best return from the totality of their involvement and ownership of this business.

“If I am going to achieve this ambition it means that we need to build commercial partnerships, it means driving exports, it means always looking for added value, and most important of all it means constant liaison with members.”

The price rise will be effective from December 1st, when the liquid pool price will rise by 0.65ppl and the manufacturing pool will increase by 0.5ppl to 32.5p.

Today (Thursday) sees the start of a series of meetings, beginning in west Wales, where Sir Jim hopes to meet as many members as possible.

The price rise is the latest announcement from First Milk, which last week revealed details of a new partnership with Adams Food, promising more investment, greater job security and utilisation of locally-produced milk at Haverfordwest cheese factory.

The deal will see Adams Food cut, pack and market 50,000 tonnes of the co-operative’s hard cheese, including branded cheddars. Adams Foods will take over the sales and marketing of this cheese to British retail, foodservice and wholesale customers, while First Milk will continue to manage the sales and marketing of its cheddars to export markets.

First Milk says it will receive a competitive price for the cheese, and the partnership will enable “significant additional investment in the processing capacity and capabilities of the Haverfordwest creamery, enabling more locally produced milk to be turned into award-winning cheese and delivering greater job security for the 67 staff employed at the site”.

Kate Allum, chief executive of First Milk said: “This partnership is directly in line with our strategic objective of adding value and delivering a sustainable future for our farmers. It not only enables us to work with a partner to deliver a short, integrated supply chain, but most importantly guarantees secure returns for our members’ milk. Additionally, it will provide a platform for us to focus more of our time and resources on priority growth areas like brand development, lifestyle nutrition and exports.”

The partnership is subject to competitions approval.