Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress her Department has made on developing a futures market for dairy in the UK; and when she expects to implement that futures market.

Last November we embarked on a detailed analysis of the scope for better dairy price risk management, including dairy futures, in order to support stability and resilience in the dairy sector.

The initial evidence base concluded that futures markets offered the best potential basis for progress and it was agreed to undertake further detailed work in this area. We are now exploring the level of appetite within the industry alongside some of the key barriers which have hampered the development of futures trading in the past.

We expect to complete our analysis by the end of April. If this work leads to a genuine and practical prospect for progress, we will then move on to work with financial market and industry partners to deliver the best option for the UK dairy market.