Asda pledges to support farmers by paying more for milk

Supermarket chain Asda has pledged to increase the price it pays its milk suppliers.

The supermarket's decision to pay more for its milk supplies follows a series of protests by members of the UK farming industry over claims milk is sold in supermarkets for less than it costs to produce.

Farmers estimate it costs 30-32p to produce a litre of milk but on average they are only paid about 23.66p per litre by supermarket buyers.

Asda is the second supermarket to pledge to pay farmers more with today's announcement coming just two days after Morrisons said it would be introducing a new 'premium' milk brand to ensure dairy industry workers got paid more.

A spokesman for Asda said:

The National Farmers Union said it was pleased Asda had agreed to take steps "to support farmers in their hour of need".

Major supermarket chains Tesco and Sainsburys have so far ruled making similar moves to Asda and Morrisons saying they pay a fair price based on the cost of production.