Our story begins in March 2024, when rumours began to circulate that there was no milk. It was said that one of the supermarkets had sold a lot of milk to a cruise ship and was now very short of supplies. To begin with there was some milk in some shops and there was also some speciality milk like oat and soy. One of the supermarkets did seem to have run out, however because all the milk sold in the shops is longlife most people had several cartons at home. Inevitably the rumour made people nervous and some went and bought what there was and then there was none for sale. Really though as a friend remarked at this point – “We don’t have a milk shortage, we have a milk location problem”.

All would be well though as once a month the supply ship arrives and it was due at the end of March, so no matter, there would be milk again. Except there wasn’t for very long. The supply ship arrived, the supermarkets received their orders (which were placed about 2 months in advance and weren’t intended to overcome a complete lack of milk). No restrictions were put on how much you could buy. Some people might have bought a lot. Then there was no milk again.

Most people got through April ok, using their stores and at the end of April the next supply ship arrived. This time there were controls on how much people could buy and it lasted a bit longer. However, it’s said that one of the supermarkets managed to buy a contaminated amount of milk which had to be thrown away. Whatever had happened there was no milk on the shelves for most of May and people have struggled. Some milk was flown in from Uruguay and it was £3.25 a litre! People grumbled a lot but it was all sold.

So here we are at the end of May, hoping that the milk shortage might now be over…the supermarkets have said that their deliveries should be enough to restore normality as these orders were placed after the shortage began, so are higher than normal.

People were waiting anxiously for the supply ship – on Wednesday it arrived and then couldn’t dock until Thursday (because of WEATHER). Thursday evening, everyone went to the shops where the milk seemed to have been the first item unloaded, sensibly they still have limits on how much you can buy in place so no one can bathe in it yet. I am now the proud possessor of 2 litres of milk and hopefully the great milk crisis has ended and goes into the history books alongside the yeast shortage of 2023 and the flour shortage of 2022. Time will tell.