“We need a commitment from them on this. A loss of production capacity in the milk sector would also disturb the meat market.”
Farmers are calling on the European Commission to allow member states to advance direct payments to support struggling dairy farmers during a markets crisis.
Europe’s leading dairy analysts have been warned of farm closure if nothing is done to address the dairy crisis, which has “deteriorated rapidly” this month.
Speaking at a meeting of the EU Milk Market Observatory, Copa-Cogeca milk spokesperson Mansel Raymond said many farmers across Europe were in a “critical situation”.
He said production prices were “far below” production costs and markets were “much more perilous” than four weeks ago.
He said superlevy bills will remove around €700 million from the industry at a time when dairy farmers “desperately need cash”.
He said: “The EU Commission must act to improve the situation short term so that producers can meet demand which is expected to rise in the medium term.
“With 88 per cent of milk produced in the EU intended for domestic consumption, the situation must also be taken seriously by all participants in the supply chain. If retailers continue to force prices down, we will see a big exodus of milk producers causing increased volatility on the market.
