The European Milk Board (EMB) has raised the alarm about a possible milk price collapse due to the significant increase in volumes across the globe.

“We are currently witnessing developments we have never seen before in this form. The signals are clear - if no action is taken now, we are heading straight into a milk price collapse,” EMB president Kjartan Poulsen has warned.

The seriousness of the situation has been acknowledged in many member states, the EMB said. However, several key countries are still preventing decisive action at European level.

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EMB vice-president Boris Gondouin has issued a call to these countries - specifically Germany, France and Denmark.

“Those who continue to hesitate are knowingly accepting another price crash and the massive loss of farms.

“These countries must finally take responsibility and clearly support the activation of voluntary volume reduction.”

The EMB is calling for countries to support a voluntary milk reduction scheme which would give milk suppliers a defined price per litre to voluntarily not produce milk in order to stabilise volumes in the short term, preventing a further price drop.

“If we take food security in Europe seriously, we must act now to ensure stable producer prices. This means one thing above all - volumes must be reduced. Only then can we secure a future for the next generation of farmers,” Poulsen added.

ICMSA

Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) president Denis Drennan called on Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon to state whether or not Ireland will be supporting actions to the introduce an EU-wide voluntary supply reduction scheme at the Council of Ministers meeting scheduled for Monday 27 April in Brussels.

The ICMSA president said that he understood through EMB ‘sister’ organisations that seven member states are currently supporting the scheme.

Dairy farmers all over the country are being wiped out by surging input costs and below-costs-of-production milk prices, Drennan explained.

While there was some increase in milk base prices this month, it is not sufficient to break even or for a farmer to make a decent living from, he said.

The voluntary supply scheme that was introduced in 2016 succeeded on that occasion, Drennan outlined, as it created a measurable reduction in milk supply that meant buyers had to ‘buy forward’ immediately and instantly begin a recovery in milk price that stabilised primary production.

The ICMSA is urging the Minister to address the problem and prevent a milk price collapse that would create a horrific situation for Irish dairy farmers.

“Put as bluntly as the situation demands, will the Minister support dairy farmers or not,” Drennan concluded.