Historical market report notice: This article was published in 2022 and reflects the market conditions, forecasts and external information available at that time.
The future outlook remains bleak for European milk supply unless the milk price paid to farmers is increased considerably by processors. Farmers are drowning under the weight of pressure caused by the sudden severity of the price increases for all of their input costs. Inflation was already rampant in the post Covid economy and the war in Ukraine has significantly increased the inflationary pressures that are impacting farmers throughout Europe.
The mass exodus of farmers creates an existential threat to global food chains. According to EMB Executive Committee member Elmar Hannen ‘Further massive losses in the number of farmers is the worst thing that can happen to us in Europe. It will be impossible to recover from this. This rapid withering down of the sector will undoubtedly lead to difficulties in food production in Europe’.
At the time of publication, the European Milk Board called for a five-point plan intended to support a more stable dairy sector. Its proposals included a voluntary production-reduction programme, social and environmental measures within the Common Agricultural Policy, implementation of relevant EU policy initiatives, measures addressing agricultural imports and minimum requirements for imported agricultural products.
This article summarises third-party market and policy commentary from 2022. It does not constitute an environmental claim about Ingredient Solutions or its products.
