(Brussels, 25th September 2013) About 450 representatives of the whole dairy sector as well as of the European Institutions met yesterday at a conference in Brussels in order to discuss about the future of EU milk markets after the abolition of milk quotas in 2015. At the conference, the European Commission presented the results of a large study on the EU milk market after 2015, to which the different actors of the EU milk sector were invited to react. The European Commission's intention is to use the information and opinions collected at the conference as a basis when deciding on whether further legislative measures need to be taken for the milk sector.

As one of the three main speakers at the conference and as the only organisation representing exclusively the interests of European milk producers, the European Milk Board (EMB) had the opportunity to present its own proposals for the EU milk market after 2015. EMB-President Romuald Schaber and Ms Andrea Fink-Kessler from the German Büro für Agrar- und Regionalentwicklung (BAR) presented the contents and conclusions of the new study on the instrument of a European Monitoring Agency, commissioned by the EMB. According to the study results, a European Monitoring Agency could  - through a flexible adjustment of produced milk volumes to demand - guarantee a solid market balance and keep milk prices on average at a cost-covering level. That way a sustainable and widespread milk production and supply in the EU would be guaranteed.

After the conference, EMB-President Romuald Schaber explained: "Today's conference confirmed once more how important it is that the milk producers of the EMB show their determination and put forward their knowledge and expertise in the discussion on the milk market after 2015. The dangerous and unrealistic ideology of a liberalisation of the milk market needs to be countered with strong arguments. We thereby need to have a critical view on forecasts of future developments. Past experience has shown that prognoses usually do not correspond to what happens later in reality. Therefore it is essential to have good instruments at our disposal, which allow us to always react to developments on the market in a flexible way. »

The European Milk Board (EMB) is a European umbrella association representing 19 milk producer organisations from 14 European countries and a total of approximately 100.000 dairy farmers. Around 75% of the milk volume in Europe is produced in its member states.

Please download the short version of the study 

Contacts:

EMB-Vice-President Sieta van Keimpema (EN, NL, DE): 0031/612168000

EMB press contact - Christian Schnier (DE, EN, FR): 0032 28081935