Agriculture minister asks processing companies not to raise purchase price of milk

The Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Anatolie Gorodenco called on the processing companies not to increase the purchase price of milk until autumn. At the same time, the producers of milk report considerable losses and demand that the price is raised to at least 5 lei a liter, Info-Prim Neo informs. During a meeting held at the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry, a number of producers said that the farmers could give up keeping cows if the purchase price of milk continues to be 3.3 lei a liter. According to them, the production of milk becomes unprofitable. The producers lose by 0.55 lei for a liter of milk sold or 33.8 million lei a year. On the other hand, representatives of processing companies say that they cannot offer a higher price for the milk because it is not of a high quality. They accuse the producers of diluting the milk with limed water. Officials of the Ministry say that the purchase prices of the milk vary depending on the period of the year because the volume of milk produced is different. An analysis of milk production shows that 70% of the milk is produced and purchased during May-October owing to the biological features of the cows, said Ion Buzu, the head of the Zootechny Division of the Agriculture Ministry. According to the quoted source, during this period the companies do not manage to process and sell the whole volume of milk provided by the producers because the market is glutted with milk products with a short shelf life. So, they have to transform the surplus into products with a longer shelf life such as dry milk, different sorts of cheese, butter etc. The manufacture of such products necessitates technologies that consume much more energy. As a result, the cost price rises and the companies are forced to reduce the purchase price of milk in order to avoid economic losses and not to increase the price for the final consumers. Ion Buzu said that another factor that leads to a glutted market and a lower purchase price of the milk during the warm period of the year is the clandestine import of dairy products. The imports of milk and dairy products increased 6.1 times since 2000, to 96,000 tonnes in 2007. The price of a liter of milk bought from the producer for 3.31 lei, until getting to the consumer, rises to 9.59 lei for pasteurized milk and to 17.78 lei for kefir. About 600,000-650,000 tonnes of milk are produced in Moldova every year. Out of these, some 190,000 tonnes are processed by companies. Moldova has 900 milk collection centers. To set up a milk collection point, one should invest 120,000 lei.