By the end of the year, Barbadians should start seeing a more consistent supply of evaporated and vanilla milk back on supermarket shelves.
This is the latest timeline delivered by Pine Hill Dairy (PHD) in response to queries about the continued absence of certain products. It has been about six months since PHD has been grappling with inconsistent supply.
When the problem first arose, consumers were told to wait until September.
A statement from the Dairy said: “In October, we have delivered several shipments of full cream evaporated milk and vanilla milk to the market, in line with our commitment made a few weeks ago.”
Frustrating
It added: “We understand how frustrating it has been not having your trusted Pinehill evaporated milk over the last couple months. We continue working with our overseas suppliers to improve on the security of key ingredients for these products in our suite. Further deliveries are planned in the coming weeks, and we aim to regain a sense of normalcy by year end.”
A check at some supermarkets showed vanilla milk was on the shelves, but one of the major local distributors said they were out of Sungold evaporated milk.
“We’ve started to release that in waves as we had indicated it would be still to start from the end of October but it’s
coming back in batches. So that is there but persons are obviously hoarding it,” country manager Shafia London told the Sunday Sun.
A key component in the manufacture of vanilla and evaporated milk is milk powder, but complications arose when the longtime supplier from New Zealand said they would no longer be able to do so. Another supplier was found in Mexico, but shipping delays pushed back production to mid-October and an alternative evaporated milk was sourced from Serge-Seprod in Jamaica.
Conversely, PHD is painting a rosier picture for the fresh milk side of operations, most of which is supplied by local dairy farmers.
“Even better news is that the partnership efforts between our dairy farmers and the Government continue to take legs. We are excited about the arrival of the 180 heifers in December which will further improve raw milk supply and whole and two per cent milk availability from the first quarter of 2025,” the release said.
For consumers, this means the availability of whole and two per cent milk will continue to improve “over the coming weeks”. (PR/SAT)
