Brussels, 18/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - The European Milk Board (EMB) said in a press release on Friday 15 April that the prices paid to milk producers in Germany at the start of 2016 covered only 64% on production costs. In January 2016, while production costs were 44.94 cents per litre, the farm-gate price was just 28.66 cents, said the EMB. The figures were calculated by BAL (Büro für Agrarsoziologie und Landwirtschaft, Office for Agriculture and Agricultural Sociology).
According to the EMB, these figures “indicate huge pressure on dairy farmers for January 2016: in addition to falling prices resulting from overproduction in the milk market, rising costs have led to increasing losses for milk production”.
In March, German prices dropped even further, and are now between 21 and 29 cents. “But German producers are not alone in Europe. For instance, dairy farmers in Denmark are being paid only 27 cents, and in Belgium the price has already plummeted to 22-23 cents a kilo of milk”, stated the EMB. Prospects for the next few months continue to be bleak, the organisation feared. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)