The spirits between milk producers and buyers flared up again, after the former accused the latter of manipulating the market in order to reduce liquid prices amid the current crisis unleashed by the covid-19 pandemic, a fact that it is on the verge of bankruptcy of more than 300,000 families who live on the sale of milk to the big industry. (Also read: Abecé to understand the grab between milk producers and Alpina)
The claim of the producers, represented in the Colombian Federation of Cattlemen (Fedegán), and of the National Association of Milk Producers (Analac) is, in addition, in the volumes of milk that the processors have been importing, which reduces the quantity that They buy in the domestic market, which, in turn, they do at lower prices, as reported.
In the first five months of this year 42,133 tons of dairy products entered the country, of which 22,841 net tons corresponded to skimmed milk powder and whole milk powder at a cost close to $ 97 million, according to Fedegán.
With this rhythm of imports, about 400 million liters of milk are no longer purchased from Colombian farmers and more than 1,000 million liters are imported at the end of 2020, warns José Félix Lafaurie, president of the union.
“This is the debacle for Colombian livestock, because it implies that 30 percent of the transformation has been acquired abroad. Today what they brought is more than 5 percent of the total milk that is transformed in Colombia; It is too much, and that is why they can afford to stop buying and lower the price for the ranchers, ”explains the spokesperson. (Also: What does the entrepreneurship bill point to?)
Thus, according to what was said by both associations, the milk processors, among these Alpina, lowered the final purchase price to the farmers by up to 5 percent and set delivery quotas 10 percent below their usual volume, reducing 14.5 percent the income of at least 300,000 small producers.
According to Analac, Alpina lowered the price per liter and reduced the purchase of milk from the producer by 10 percent, arguing the pandemic.
But the directors of the company, whose plant is in Sopó, Cundinamarca, said that they have only imported 1,800 tons of milk and not 40,000 tons as implied, to be supplied in the drought at the beginning of the year and for preparations that require milk powdered.
They also clarified that the company buys 1.2 million liters from 3,500 producers each day.
Solidarity fund
Another problem raised by producers is the low consumption of milk in the country, which may have become more acute with the arrival of the pandemic.
Lafaurie says that here there is a consumption of the middle and upper sectors that can be between 170 and 180 liters of milk per capita; stratum one consumes on average 36 liters and two, about 54, then there are more than 30 million people who have under-consumption, while the average per capita in Europe and the United States is around 500 liters per year.
The country produces about 7,500 million liters of milk each year; However, the ranchers maintain, the industry does not manage to produce half.
The truth is that some 30 million Colombians who live in situations of greater vulnerability do not have access to this protein, even though they do have the possibility of acquiring soft drinks, beer and water.
For this reason, the spokesman for the ranchers comments that one way to combat this shortcoming is with the creation of a solidarity fund, so that in a pandemic like the current one, milk can be supplied to the most vulnerable strata at differential prices to meet their consumption. , which will help the homes of those strata in some way.
“Regardless of whether it has been possible to download, the claim and the proposal that we have made is to create a solidarity fund where the farmers contribute, the industry and the Government, to attend to what is the consumption of the popular sectors, “said Lafaurie.
The manager also pointed out that the utility of the chain is concentrated today in industry and commerce, when what the country needs is Colombian milk for all, at an affordable price, with a reasonable profit for those links, and a price decent for the rancher, because without him … there would be nothing.
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