German Farmers Threaten to Suspend Milk Deliveries

Spiegel Online International 23 April 2008

German farmers are up in arms over a decision by leading supermarket chains to cut milk prices, claiming they are being exploited. Dairy farmers are even threatening to suspend milk deliveries if the trend continues.

In a time of increasing concerns about rising food prices, one might think that the fact that milk prices are coming down in Germany would be cause for celebration. But while consumers may be looking forward to paying less for their dairy products, farmers are up in arms over what they see as unfair price-fixing.

"If prices keep falling, as is expected, then we will have no other choice but to suspend deliveries," Thorsten Sehm, the head of the German Federal Dairy Farmers Association (BDM), told the newspaper Berliner Zeitung. "That has never happened before in Germany."

Although the federation had not officially decided yet to suspend deliveries, a survey of the organization's around 100,000 members showed that 88 percent supported such a move. Sehm did not want to give further details of a possible suspension "for tactical reasons," but stressed that "we are very determined to take action."

German farmers reacted furiously to the decision by leading German supermarket chains Lidl, Aldi and Rewe to reduce the price of milk from €0.73 ($1.16) to €0.61 ($0.97) per liter on Monday. A further chain, Edeka, is planning to announce similar price cuts in coming days. Farmers accuse the large supermarket chains of exploiting their market dominance to dictate prices.

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