Members of the Latvian Association of Agricultural Cooperatives – a total of 18 cooperatives – agreed on improving positions of farmers in the Baltic region.
“The goal behind cooperation is ensuring a comprehensive dialogue with milk-processing companies regarding the procurement price under conditions when the global market reduces dairy product prices. We remind that the majority of Latvian milk cooperatives received notification from processing companies regarding a massive decline of procurement prices at the end of last year. No explanation was given, and companies actively avoided a dialogue with cooperatives,” association’s representatives say.
During the meeting, LAAC members urged Agriculture Ministry and Rural Support Service to carefully reconsider and halt allocation of EU finances to companies that were constantly late with their payments to cooperatives for supplies of raw materials.
The association also proposes reducing VAT from 21% to 5% for milk, kefir, curd cheese and sour cream.
“LAAC will continue work on resolving milk market matters to help strengthen cooperation of farmers in this sector. As demonstrated by the EU market time and again, stable and relatively high milk procurement prices are found in EU countries that have strong cooperatives. LAAC is committed to commencing a dialogue with all sides involved in the food network: farmers, suppliers, and traders to ensure dairy products are offered on the market for prices beneficial to consumers and farmers,” the association explains. (BNN/Business World Magazine)