By unlocking the export potential China offers the pig industry, not to mention the red meat sector as a whole, we could gain entry into a marketplace which comprises a fifth of the world’s population.Milk producers urged to think global
EU milk producers increasingly need to ensure they are contracted to a significant player in the dairy market.
And, essentially, they must do all they can to ensure the business aspirations of their chosen processor are successful.
French dairy expert Phillippe Jachnik from CNEIL’s international affairs division told the Dairy UK conference producers would still need the cow and the means of milking it they have always required. But in the future a contractual relationship with someone having a market share in the EU and maybe beyond was an essential for anyone wanting to remain a milk producer in the EU. If not, they were “in trouble.”
His reasoning was the changing dynamics of the global dairy market and the impending emergence of China, for one, as a major consumer of dairy products - predicted by some international consultants to surpass the USA by 2027.
Mr Jachnik said in practically every EU country other than the UK, dairy farmers all looked at the broader dairy market picture of the whole of the EU - if not the world.
It was well documented he said, that as consumer purchasing power increased as national economies strengthened, the consumption of animal protein - including dairy - tended to boom. This has already happened in Latin America and the Middle East - China was next. And it would grow from a very minimal current base.
The reason dairy farmers must try and understand and engage with processors was because investment in milk processing brought big risks for the milk companies - not the least the risk of supply base reliability. And it was here that producers could play their part by helping lessen that risk.
“Once dairy companies have invested, they do their utmost to make sure that what they wanted to happen (in the business) does so.
“Either embrace it and be a part of it or you will be in trouble,” Mr Jachnik warned.
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Readers' comments (1)
Anonymous | 8 September 2010 3:42 pm
'Globalisation' of the dairy industry will ultimately benefit the few corporate players in the market at the expense of the many that will be forced out of business. Milk will become just another commodity to be traded around the world, profiting the traders and once more sealing the fate of many dairy farmers . Large scale dairy factory farms will continue to be created, and where necessary, shutdown and relocated to countries where conditions allow milk to be produced at the least possible cost. In a world of dwindling and ever expensive raw materials shouldn't the wise and sustainable mantra be 'think local, small is beautiful and help save the planet'.
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