Parmalat, Australia's second-largest fresh milk processor has claimed that the $2 billion private label milk supply deal which Coles has made with Murray Goulburn Co-op could damage the dairy industry.
The Australian Financial Review reports that Parmalat chief executive Craig Garvin said the 10-year milk supply agreement is good for consumers and possibly for Victorian dairy farmers, but will be damaging for farmers outside Victoria and for foreign-owned processors.
“This is potentially a very divisive and a very disruptional strategy; I think farmers should be nervous,” he told the AFR.
“There's a lot of scepticism among farmers and they're really now starting to look through this deal and what's really in it.”
The deal has raised several other concerns within the industry.