Jersey’s milky way

Jersey Dairy managing director Eamon Fenlon believes Jersey’s dairy products will retain and expand their niche in the market. He talked to Alasdair Crosby

Jersey Dairy has just one or two little problems – in common with the rest of the global dairy industry. Brexit and Covid have been responsible for some of them; then there is the war in Ukraine, climate change…

‘I’ve been in manufacturing for over 30 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this,’ said Jersey Dairy’s managing director, Eamon Fenlon.

‘Brexit has increased lead times on ordering anything, be it ingredients or packaging. Prices have gone through the roof; deliveries that would have taken under four weeks are now taking three or four months.’ Some good news: ‘In the UK, our soft mix ice creams are doing really, really well. Our brand - “Jersey Gold” - is up about 85% on last year’s sales.’

Excellent! And the bad news?

‘That doesn’t mean any increase in profitability – our costs have gone up as well.

So there is no real benefit to the farmer.’

Jersey’s exports to the Far East are still hampered by Covid restrictions and supply chain disruption. Brexit has also increased the bureaucratic paperwork connected with exports to the EU. ‘It’s horrendous out there and we are just trying to keep on top of it all.’

Luckily, to compensate for difficulties with exporting to the EU, a 200-strong chain of convenience stores in Hong Kong has proved to be a regular and steady customer. For eight years it has taken 1 million litres a year, as well as Jersey butter.

The UK remains Jersey’s biggest export market, primarily for what Eamon refers to as long-life recipebased products, of which soft mix ice cream is the biggest element.

Eamon continued: ‘There is a huge development in soft mix ice cream, primarily because of the development of new machinery, no bigger than a coffee machine, that enables small catering outlets to offer ice creambased desserts. A whole new sector has opened for soft mix ice cream and Jersey Dairy is taking every advantage of that. We are really confident of continued growth in this sector.’

Conversely, the market for liquid milk in the Island has been affected by the fewer number of tourists and the decline in the population, reckoned to be in the region of 3,000 to 4,000 over the past few years.

The average consumption of milk in the Island is, on average, 80 litres per head per annum, so the exodus from Jersey accounts for quite a volume of lost milk sales. There is also an increasing trend across Europe and the USA in consumer behaviours toward flexitarianism (a semi-vegetarian diet) and plant-based purchases.

The Dairy’s intake of milk from the farms is about 14 million litres per year; just over 8 million litres is consumed in the Island as liquid milk. Other products consumed in the Island amounts to 2 million litres; the rest is exported.

“A whole new sector has opened for soft

mix ice cream and Jersey Dairy is taking every advantage of that. We are really confident The world seems awash with antiof continued growth in dairy vegan propaganda. Has that affected sales?

this sector ‘Not too badly! There is a bit of criticism, but it all seems to be orchestrated. The support we get from the Island community is huge – and we do very well as far as brand recognition is concerned. People in Jersey are very proud of the Jersey cow – and everything that we make from it.’

What about the packaging – how environmentally friendly is it?

‘It is not biodegradable. Jersey looked at the feasibility of collecting cartons and reused cartons and taking them off the Island for recycling. However, when we investigated, we found out that a huge amount of energy is used in a recycling plant and actually a high percentage of what goes through it ends up in an energy from waste plant – and we have our own energy from waste plant in Jersey! The carton industry is still trying to develop a carton that is fully recyclable – they haven’t succeeded yet.’

How about using glass bottles?

‘That also takes a lot of energy and the price of glass has gone through the roof recently because of that. If we went back to returnable bottles, this whole factory would have to be refitted.‘

An existential worry for the Dairy – and not just for them, of course – is supposing one of the Island’s current 13 dairy farmers decide to give up, and specifically, if one of the six herds that supply 85% of the Dairy’s intake decides to do so: that would have a catastrophic effect on milk supplies and the dairy industry and would reopen the controversy of allowing the importation of cheaper milk from elsewhere.

He answered: ‘We are working on plans to mitigate that risk; it is still work in progress.’

(It would be lovely to know what these plans were…)

However, a new development about which he could speak, was that they have made a plant-based product for a third-party’s soft mix ice cream. The trials have been very successful and their customer sees big opportunities for it.

Eamon said: ‘That gives the Dairy more opportunity to push more volume through, which means more money for the farmers. ‘We are not just about producing milk from farms, we must utilise our facilities to the maximum and make ourselves as profitable as possible, so the dividend goes back to the farmer and helps them. ‘That is fundamentally what the Jersey Dairy is all about.’

An extended version of this interview can be found on the RURAL website: www.ruraljersey.co.uk