Over the first nine months of 2016 purchase prices have slightly recovered with farmers being able to sell milk 2.5% higher and pork – 9% higher, the Estonian Rural Affairs Ministry found in a survey.
The ministry’s Deputy Secretary General for Agricultural and Rural Life Policies Marko Goran evaluates: “The low ebb of the milk market that has continued for a long time has had a negative effect on the purchase price of milk and cattle numbers. Yet the productivity of cattle has grown despite the difficult situation and milk output has stabilized on the level of recent years”.
In January to September some 7,000 tons more milk was produced in Estonia than during the same period in 2015 and the average milk purchase price in September was 233 euros per ton, marking a 2.5% increase.
As to pork, the average purchase price of pork was 1,593 euros per ton in the third quarter, up by 7%, but 13% less pork was produced in Estonia by the end of September than during the same period in 2015. (BNN/Business World Magazine)