Milk prices set to rise

If you’re making out your grocery list, perhaps you’ll want to stock up on milk.  The “threshold” or basic price of milk, issued by New York State, is poised for a big hike next week.  And that will most likely filter through to any milk-related product like cheese or ice cream.

At Sycaway Creamery in Brunswick which is a milk-product distributor, they sell to schools, nursing homes and Mom-and-Pop convenience stores.   They’re braced for the cost of milk to go up.

Janis Greene says “Well, I’ve got to pass it on to my customers . They won’t like it.  A lot of them will have to increase their prices also.”

The threshold price for a gallon of milk in upstate New York will be $4.16 starting in July.  That’s a $.45 increase over the June price.

But put it in perspective:  It’s still 2 cents less than last July’s price and 17 cents less than August’s historic price of $4.33.

We called the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets and they say when they send out notification of a price hike, it’s only a guideline for retailers---retailers don’t have to raise the price.  But given the fact that the cost of everything else is up, it’s likely they’ll be passing the cost on to you, the consumer.

Among the reasons for the hike? High fuel costs, lower corn supplies, Midwest flooding and increased global demand for milk.

“Ice cream, everything , it’s going to affect school bids and school prices, “ says Greene.

New York Senator Chuck Schumer feels he has a quick way to provide relief.  He says by putting corn into ethanol rather than nourishing cows, farmers’ feed costs go up, making milk costlier.  He wants to allow imported ethanol, made from sugar cane in Brazil, into the US immediately.

“If they were to drop the ethanol tariff the price of milk would come down immediately, “ says Schumer, “Because people would feel there was feed for our dairy cattle.”

We asked Greene “Do you see any signs of it coming down?”   Greene answered, “I don’t know, it’s day by day here in this business.”