The situation in the Slovak dairy sector - involving a drastic drop in the purchase prices - is unsustainable, and it's necessary that the state allocates at least €43 million to support Slovak producers, Slovak Agriculture and Food Chamber (SPPK) chairman Milan Semančík stated on Friday. Falling purchase prices have recently led to a drop in the number of dairy cow breeders. The producers' cost for raw milk reaches around 40 cents per kilogram, however at the same time there are producers on the market selling milk for as little as 16 cents per kilogram. Semančík noted that around 10,000 people are employed in the dairy sector. "If appropriate measures aren't adopted rapidly, around one third of breeders are planning to shut down milk production soon", said Semančík, adding that this will further lead to the growth of unemployment in the countryside, its depopulation and reduction in soil fertility.
In reacting to the request of the Slovak Agriculture and Food Chamber, the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry stated that it isn't in favour of providing blanket financial aid for milk producers, but only for those who'll be able to produce dairy products with higher added value and invest in new technologies. According to the Ministry, the critical situation on the market is due to the scraping of milk quotas by the European Commission last year, which has led to the overproduction of milk. Many Slovak producers have thereby found themselves unable to compete with strong entities from Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, for example. The EU's overall milk output in the first quarter of 2016 increased by 7.4 percent, with the price falling by 12 percent year-on-year. The spokesperson for the Agriculture Ministry reported that a working group at the ministry is preparing a range of financial and non-financial measures to tackle the situation.
