Camperdown Milk to disappear from supermarket shelves

Australian Dairy Nutritionals has outlined their future plans after deciding to close the Camperdown Milk brand last week.

A BIDDING war for fresh milk has priced the Camperdown Dairy brand out of the market, with its owners shifting to infant formula.

Last week, Australian Dairy Nutritionals confirmed it would cancel its fresh dairy produce due to rapidly rising costs.

Management said the move would mitigate staffing shortages and allow it to focus production on higher-margin products such as infant formula and nutritional supplements.

However, a few job losses were not ruled out as part of the move to end the brand, which has appeared in Woolworths supermarket refrigerators for several years.

Management said margins on fresh milk products had made it uncompetitive to continue, with nearly all suppliers increasing prices by more than 10 per cent and logistics costs nearly doubling.

United Dairyfarmers of Victoria vice president Mark Billing said while he couldn’t comment specifically on Camperdown Dairy’s demise, processors were set to make hard choices in an increasingly competitive environment.

“Dairy farmers are getting record prices at the farmgate, which is great news, but it also forces some processors to reconsider how they operate,” he said.

“Infant formula has been a more profitable area than fresh milk in the past, so the news isn’t surprising in that regard.”

Corangamite Shire mayor Ruth Gstrein said the Camperdown brand provided an excellent source of promotion for the southwest Victorian town.

“From a personal and community perspective, I’m sad to see the brand go,” she said.

“People buying their milk in the supermarket would see the Camperdown name and perhaps encouraged some of them to want to visit Camperdown.

“It’s good that (Australian Dairy Nutritionals) will still have a presence in the community, given they’re a well-established employer locally.”