It's pretty clear. Even some small retailers wonder about the chains' high prices. But for the retailers, it is. They're out to make money. To an industry outsider, trying to determine all the issues that go into pricing one of the most-purchased food items in a supermarket is no easy task.
Numerous factors come into play at the farm level, processor level and retailer level.
Once the milk reaches the retailer, the store must decide whether to use the commodity as a so-called loss leader, pricing the product at or near cost to lure customers. Throw in competition among the brands, including mainland imports, and the pricing picture gets even more muddled. In some situations, the pricing doesn't seem to make sense. Usually there's added cost when a retailer buys through a middleman instead of from the manufacturer. One reason is volume.