After a sharp increase last year, milk prices remain high for consumers, while it continues to decline for producers who show their displeasure again and slam the opacity surrounding the formation of prices. Producers have launched Monday a series of events culminating with a national day of action on Tuesday to denounce the falling price of milk but also the public policy they hold accountable for the crisis.
The price paid in April, around 21 cents a liter, is down about 30% compared to April 2008, according to calculations by the National Federation of Dairy Producers (NPFL, an offshoot of the FNSEA) . Yet the customer pays the liter of milk as much as in 2008.
On the websites of Auchan, Carrefour and Intermarche, a liter of milk label (MDD) costs between 70 cents and 1.05 euro per liter. For milk entry level, price is slightly higher at 50 cents. "We have no evidence on the margins of processors and distributors. It held top secret," laments Psalmon Gilles, director of the National Federation of Milk Producers (NPFL). "The milk producer has no idea of the price of milk at the factory," he adds.
The NPFL, as FNSEA and consumer groups have been calling for several months the effective establishment of a monitoring margins and food prices. Such a device was created in early 2008, when the controversy over soaring consumer prices. However it has not produced the desired results, since it is limited to providing price developments while remaining silent on the margins.
"Only in France there is such opacity on price formation. There is no known link between changes in agricultural prices and that of consumer prices," said For its part Andrault Olivier, in charge of agriculture and food in the UFC-Que Choisir. "The increases are passed on, but never decreases," he adds. According to UFC-Que Choisir, since mid-2008 the producer price fell by nearly 10% over 2007, but the shelves remained stable.
For Mr. Andrault, non impact of this decrease to consumers is related to the fact that distributors and / or maintain industrial margins. Asked about his own margins, Lactalis (Lact, Bridel), a global leader in the dairy sector, refer the matter to the supermarkets. "We can not give figures which would affect the distribution. Each distributor has its own policy on margins," said Luc Morelon, a spokesman for the group. "Once they can lower prices, we do," Jerome Bedier fights, President Federation Business Trade and Distribution (FCD).
The retail and evokes a fall in prices of dairy products (cheese, yogurt, butter, etc.) of 3.2% between March 2008 and March 2009 while those of the milk carton fell 1.2% . "The producers themselves do not want distributors to make too much competition in the milk. Some of us were treated to demonstrations when they wanted to lower milk prices. Farmers have accused of dumping "says Mr. Bedier.
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