Owner of Dukat Ready to Discuss Milk Prices with French Producers

The largest dairy producer in Europe, the French Lactalis, owner of Dukat, has announced that it is ready to renegotiate with producers regarding the purchase prices of milk following protests by around 400 farmers in front of the company’s headquarters in northwest France.

European producers are troubled by the decline in milk prices, linked to last year’s abolition of quotas in the European Union, the Russian ban on imports of Western food products, and weak Chinese imports.

Producers’ associations emphasize that the purchase price of 250 euros for a thousand liters of milk, which this dairy giant pays to French producers, is significantly lower than their production costs. It is also 10 to 30 euros lower than the price paid to producers by competitors such as Danone, Sodiaal, and Bela.

Lactalis’s brands include President, Bridel, Galbani, and Lacter, which produce butter, milk, and cheese, Reuters reminds us.

“The group is ready to restart negotiations,” said Lactalis spokesperson Michel Nalet on Tuesday to radio Europe 1. “At no point have we closed the door (to negotiations),” he added.

Nalet did not specify details of a possible price change and did not wish to say when they might meet with representatives of the producers’ association.

The spokesperson for the French dairy giant emphasized that the group is facing fierce competition within the European Union, where prices fell more last year than in France.

In January, producers in France received 27.70 euros for 100 kilograms of fresh milk. For comparison, those in the leading European milk producer Germany received 23.22 euros for 100 kilograms, in Great Britain 25.12 euros, and in the Netherlands 25.00 euros for 100 kilograms of milk, according to data from the European Commission.

On Tuesday morning, around 200 farmers, mostly from regional branches of the largest farmers’ association in France, FNSEA, protested in front of Lactalis’s headquarters in Laval, the association reported.

French Minister of Agriculture Stephane Le Foll called for a dialogue on milk prices at the beginning of the week, adding that the government is ready to mediate in resolving the dispute.

Le Foll stated that he would present a broader plan in the “coming days” for implementing EU measures to limit milk production, which would also include mechanisms for resolving crises in the livestock and crop sectors.

The European Commission announced in July that it would approve an additional 500 million euros in aid for struggling farmers, including support for reducing milk production. Brussels also approved 500 million euros in aid last September, primarily aimed at addressing liquidity issues and stabilizing the market.