#Milk price rises in China as dairy cattle decline

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The number of dairy cattle in China has dropped by 2 million in 2013 from a year ago, leading to a decline in milk production by 15%-20%, an expert in the dairy industry told Shanghai’s China Business News, adding that the insufficient supply will continue to push up the price of raw milk.
 
Gao Fuliang, general manager of the China-based Longdan Dairy, noted that due to restricted supplies, the price of raw milk jumped from 4,000 yuan (US$690) per tonne to 5,200 yuan (US$855) within a month.
 
Several dairy companies, including Bright Dairy, Mengniu Dairy and Yili Group, will increase the price of their milk products in December.
 
This is not the first time that the dairy companies have increased their prices this year. Shengyuan raised its prices by 5% in February, while Yili, Mengniu and Bright also implemented price increases in October.
 
The expert noted that the number of milk cows in China has decreased by 20%-25% to 2 million this year from last year’s 8-9 million.
 
The substantial decrease in the number of milk cows has led to a shortage in the supply of raw milk. An analyst said the current milk supply was estimated at 35 million tonnes, but the market demand required some 40 million tonnes.
 
Gao attributed the insufficient supply to three reasons.
 
First, small-scale dairy farms have dropped out of the industry due to facing a deficit over the last two years. Second, the high summer temperatures, caused by climate change, have led to low production from milk cows. Third, the Chinese government has reduced imports from New Zealand after a scare over the country’s milk powder.
 
The small-scale dairy farms withdrew from the industry last year because of the hike in beef prices, which rose from 50 yuan (US$8.21) per kilogram to 80 yuan (US$13.13) per kilogram at the beginning of this year.
 
Market analyst Song Liang suggested the government should enhance subsidies for breeding dairy cattle so that small-scale farms would be more willing to stay in the dairy industry rather than turning to raising cattle for slaughter.
 
Source: Want China Times

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Así lo expresó Domingo Possetto, secretario de la seccional Rafaela, quien además, afirmó que a los productores «habitualmente los ignoran los gobiernos». Además, reconoció la labor de los empresarios de las firmas locales y aseguró que están «esperanzados» con la negociación entre SanCor y Adecoagro.

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