ANDhe is price Galician milk has skyrocketed in recent months as a result of its low production and the “tension” of the dairy industry seeking to avoid famine, great playersprovide them with better conditions than small and medium farms monopolize the largest possible volume of product. The thesis was presented by Roberto García, Secretary General of the Agricultural Unions (UU AA), but backing it up is data collected by the Ministry of Rural Affairs. And he’s worried. Especially in a context where the most humble farms are shut down due to accounts responsible for adjusting inflation “to the millimeter”. and the resounding absence of an unexpected generational change in the absence of the coming.
According to figures updated by the Galician Statistical Institute between January and November 2022, the difference in milk price between small and large farms in the community has doubled.
At the beginning of the year, Farms with cows with a milk quota of more than 700,000 kilograms were sold at 36.63 Euros per 100 liters, and farms with cows with a milk quota of less than 100,000 kilograms were sold at 31.48 Euros per 100 liters.. The difference of 5.15 euros, negative for the latter, increased until it reached 10.73 euros recorded weeks ago, when the farms in question sold each 100 liters at 59.04 euros and 48.31 euros, respectively.
To get an idea great players He earns 22% more by selling the same amount as little fish: The dairy industry pays less for a six-liter small farm than for a five-liter farm.
Irritability as a decision
“It is scandalous and shocking that Xunta and the Government did nothing with this information.García emphasizes that the increase in the price of milk produced by the most modest farmers comes after the “brutal increase in costs” that did not reflect on 2021 prices and brought many small businesses to close. farms
This crisis scenario, which caused the production to fall “for the first time in years”, was the issue that worried the dairy sector. “When milk was scarce, companies threw themselves into the market to compete in search of the largest volume of produce. Where is this volume? in large farmers. So what did they do to get that milk? Raise the price to indicate that prices are rising “not because of a problem with production costs, but because of tensions caused by a lack of supply,” he stresses.
While the difference has always been there, the reality is that the higher the quota of cow farms in Galicia, the more they are paid: in November those producing between 100,000 and 200,000 kilos of milk per year cost 53.12 euros per year. 100 liters; 54.62 Euros for those weighing between 200,000 and 300,000 kilos; 55.79 Euros for those weighing between 300,000 and 400,000 kilos; Those weighing between 400,000 and 700,000 kilograms cost 57.18 euros.
“Many small farms are disappearing and production is concentrated in the section of farms exceeding 500,000 kilos per year. Less than 20% of producers produce more than 65% of milk. Keep in mind that it is precisely this group of workers that continues to drift away from the national average milk price, with the productive ecosystem rapidly turning into an oligopoly and “80% of producers produce 35% of milk”. national, which reached 58.7 cents per liter two months ago (1.1 cents more than Galicia).
Looking to the future, the UU AA secretary general predicts that “it is normal for the price to stabilize, there will be a compromise”, but there may be a “contradictory effect” along the way. “The industry is concerned about the decline in milk production in Spain, and this aggressive non-market price imposed on a very significant number of medium-sized and family-produced farmers can accelerate and encourage abandonment,” he says.
National Court’s first sentences for Cartel will arrive “within weeks”
In July 2019, the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) sanctioned two dairy associations (AELGA and GIL) and the main dairy companies (Pascual, Capsa, which operates under the Central Lechera brand) with €80.6 million. , Puleva, Lactalis, Celega, Nestlé and Schreiber) for anticompetitive practices between 2000 and 2013. begins to make the first decisions in the case.
“The first penalties will be announced in the next three or four weeks,” they said, noting that their organization currently brings together 5,025 cases from Galician farmers, accounting for almost 60% of the cases filed across Spain. “Hopefully when these fines come out, we hope they will be in favor, and time will be opened to file lawsuits in commercial courts and measure how much damage has been done to each of the farmers who sued,” they say. They add that the allegations “will exceed 1,000m euros” in Galicia.
The so-called Dairy Cartel “unilaterally imposed on farmers roads, distribution and an artificial price for milk”, they likewise remind from the group, noting that if the penalty is approved, dairy companies must respond in solidarity to ensure payment. guarantee.
Source: Informacion
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