Woolworths\u2019 billion-dollar profit has raised fresh questions about how Australia\u2019s biggest food retailer backs home-grown dairy, local processors and regional jobs.<\/p>\n
Woolworths reported an 18.1 per cent increase in net profit to $1.14 billion for FY26, with its Australian Food segment sales reaching $53.9 billion.<\/p>\n
Australian Dairy Farmers president Ben Bennett said Woolworths use of imported United States dairy products, including their home-brand cheese, put pressure on home-grown Australian produce, dairy farmers, processors and regional jobs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWoolworths has built its brand as the \u2018fresh food people\u2019, but it\u2019s putting Woolworths-branded imported cheese into Australian shopping baskets,\u201d Mr Bennett said.<\/p>\n
Mr Bennett said the Woolworths case was symptomatic of a broader and worrying trend, with both United States and European imports increasingly appearing on Australian supermarket shelves.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd some of those products sit in Green and Gold-style packaging, so shoppers aren\u2019t even being given clear information about whether they are buying Australian dairy or imported product.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery imported product that replaces Australian dairy takes demand away from local processors and farmers. And that demand supports farms, processing capacity, regional communities and Australia\u2019s food security.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Bennett said major retailers needed to be clear about what they put on shelves and how those choices affect local production.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not just about shopper choice. It is about retailer responsibility.<\/p>\n
\u201cGovernments are talking about food security and resilient supply chains, but sourcing decisions like this put more pressure on the farmers and processors who produce food here at home.<\/p>\n
\u201cWoolworths and other major supermarkets decide which products get shelf space, and those decisions help determine whether Australia maintains a strong domestic dairy industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce farms close and processing capacity disappears, it is extremely difficult to rebuild.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Bennett said Woolworths\u2019 strong profit result made it fair to ask how the retailer supported Australian dairy farmers and local food production.<\/p>\n
\u201cWoolworths reported a $1.14 billion profit, while Australian dairy farmers compete with imported home-brand products from much larger overseas markets.<\/p>\n
\u201cAustralian dairy farmers are not asking for charity. They are asking major retailers to value Australia\u2019s own produce, its own food.<\/p>\n
\u201cWoolworths should explain how it will keep Australian dairy farmers and processors in its supply chain while selling Woolworths-branded imported dairy products.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Woolworths\u2019 billion-dollar profit has raised fresh questions about how Australia\u2019s biggest food retailer backs home-grown dairy, local processors…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":895351,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-895350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=895350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/895351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=895350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=895350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=895350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}