Farmers blame supermarkets for milk price

Farmers are blaming high retail margins for the price of milk.

It follows a call for an investigation into whether New Zealanders are being over-charged for it. Independent MP Gordon Copeland says milk is 15 cents cheaper in Australia and even cheaper in Britain, the US and Canada.

Chairman of Federated Farmers' Dairy Section, Frank Brenmuhl, says any investigation into the price of milk should start at the supermarkets. He says nobody has actually looked at what the retail margins are until now.

Mr Brenmuhl says farmers get somewhere in the region of 38 per cent of the retail price and a small portion of the cost is needed to cover the cost of processing and packaging.

- NEWSTALK ZB