From 'SMH'/'The Age' online:

(BGA does not produce all the home brand milk sold in Australia by the supermarket chains: from memory, Parmalat and Saputo do more, but this price rise will allow BGA to increase the cost of its Pura milk):

Coles and Woolies up milk prices as cost-of-living crunch hits dairy sector

By Emma Koehn

July 14, 2022 — 1.32pm

"Supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths are upping the price of their private label milk products to cover rising farmgate prices paid to producers and increasing supply chain costs.

Coles confirmed on Wednesday evening that it was upping its retail prices for its “fresh white” and UHT milk products by as much as 60¢ after the price they pay to farmers increased over the past few months.

Coles confirmed price rises for its “fresh white milk” products came in after a substantial rise in the farmgate price paid to dairy farmers.Credit:Bloomberg

A one-litre bottle of Coles fresh white milk has jumped from $1.35 to $1.60, the two-litre offering has gone from $2.60 to $3.10 and three-litre bottles have risen from $3.90 to $4.50.

Coles chief commercial officer Leah Weckert said price rises were “never something we do lightly”, but that these were necessary to recognise higher payments to dairy farmers and processors.

A Woolworths spokesperson said the supermarket would also be adjusting prices of its branded milk this week.

“Across the dairy cabinet, brands have already increased their retail prices to reflect higher wholesale costs across the entire industry,” they said.

“We’ll be adjusting the price of our own Woolworths brand milk in the coming days to reflect these higher costs as well.”

From Friday, Woolworths one litre branded milk will also be $1.60, two litres will cost $3.10 and three litres will sell for $4.50.

ASX-listed Bega Cheese also warning there are more cost pressures to come as rising payments to producers flow through to the prices that customers see at the checkout.

In an update to shareholders on Wednesday evening, Bega said particularly strong competition between producers during June and July have seen the farm gate price of milk spike by 30 per cent for the 2023 financial year compared with 2022..."