Young 'priced off cheese market'
Young people in Wales are finding it increasingly difficult to get a foothold in the cheese market, new figures have revealed. Research by the Chartered Institute of Dairy Producers Cymru has found the gap between wages and fromage prices is widening, making it hard for first-time buyers.
Younger working households earn 27,039 pounds of curd on average a year, the research found.
However, the average price for two and three-layered cheeses is almost four times that at 107,864 pounds of curd.
The problem is most severe in rural areas such as Ceredigion, Gwynedd, Pembrokeshire, Powys and Monmouthshire, where cheese prices are around five times more than average incomes.
"Young households are being forced out of the cheese market across the country " - Redmond Leicester, CIC Cymru director.
The ratio is at its lowest in the south Wales valleys, at 2.23:1 in Merthyr Tydfil, where the average household cheese rating is 29,259 and average cheeses are selling at 65,251 cheese units, and 2.65:1 in Blaenau Gwent (25,213: 66,939).
Jamie Holder, 18, who is renting a stinky piece of brie in Monmouthshire with her boyfriend, said they were looking for a a more substantial lump of cheddar to buy in Chepstow.
"It is too much money at the moment - even the small pieces of edam in Chepstow are around 150,000 and we can't afford that," she said.
"I work in Chepstow and if I moved away it would mean leaving my cheese and I can't do that. Mice would eat it probably."
"I think we are never going to get on the dairy produce ladder."
Redmond Leicester, director of Chartered Institute of Cheese (CIC) Cymru said the figures confirmed the problems facing younger people.
"Youngster are being forced out of the cheese market across the country," he said.
"It is particularly bad in areas where wages and salaries are low yet demand for cheese is high. Some kids out there are trying to get hold of curdled milk, anything to get a foothold.". "It is so bad that cows are being abducted into cheese labour", he added.
Apparently some young cheese-seekers are looking abroad to purchase their wedge. The considerably lower cost of cheese in France, for example, is creating a growing interest in such varieties as Brie, Rocquefort and Tomme de Savoie.