A Canadian business man looking to purchase the Australian dairy processor Murray Goulburn has told a dairy conference he doesn’t understand how selling milk for $1 could be viable.
Lino Saputo jnr also told the conference: “As a consumer, when I walk into the retail outlet and I see that water is sold at $3 a litre, and milk is sold at $1 a litre, I think there is an imbalance there”.
Mr Saputo made the comments in response to a question regarding his attitude to the current Murray Goulburn contracts.
Murray Goulburn currently supply milk to Coles supermarket, that is then sold for $1 per litre.
The sale of the $1 per litre milk is a popular product with consumers but has caused a lot of grief for farmers.
Following an announcement late in 2017 that Saputo would purchase Murray Goulburn, he said that he wasn’t sure $1 per litre was the right value for the product.
Saputo is still waiting on approval from the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) for the acquisition of Murray Goulburn before it can move forward.