Brussels, 07/12/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Milk Board feels that the agreement on contracts in the dairy sector “completely overlooks the fate of milk producers” (see EUROPE 10509). In the view of Romuald Schaber, the president of the EMB, the decisions have “missed the target of strengthening the producers' position by a long shot”.
As there are plans to exclude the members of cooperatives from any contract mechanism, “dairy cooperatives will continue to be able to exert merciless pressure on prices”.
Additionally, limiting the pooling of producers to bargain jointly with dairies to 3.5% (European level) and 33% (national level) will cause “another severe problem”, as the market share of many dairies already exceeds these pooling limits many times over. (LC/transl.fl)