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Tevfik Keskin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Central Union of Milk Producers of Türkiye (SÜTBİR), made a written statement regarding the milk prices on the agenda of milk producers. Stating that according to their calculations, the cost of raw milk production is 12.43 liras and the producer sells his milk at 12.5 liras on average, Keskin underlined that the sustainability of production is in danger under these conditions.
RAW MILK REFERENCE PRICE SHOULD BE UPDATED!
In his written statement, Keskin noted the following: As Milk Producers, we want the Food Committee to listen to our voice to update the raw milk reference price. The increasing input costs, feed, energy, labour, inflation trigger in many other items and TURKSTAT’s (Turkish Statistical Institute) data are obvious. When we consider our costs, the current raw milk reference price is far below the input costs.”
FEED PRICES HAVE SOARED BY 100 TL IN THE LAST 20 DAYS…
“In the last 20 days, the feed has been hiked by around 100 TL and when we look at the prices we have collected from the regions, a sack of feed is currently around 520 -550 TL. A new hike is expected to be applied to these prices in the field, which change brand by brand. We can also predict that there will be a new increase when we enter the new year.”
PRODUCTION COST OF MILK 12.43 TL…
“In order for our producers to continue production and not to be crushed by the hike in inflation, we urgently demand that raw milk prices be updated at reasonable prices again, preventing the increase in raw milk prices and successive feed price increases. The market is currently being traded in such a way that the producer will receive 12.50 TL, in this case, even if the council updates the price to 12.50 TL, our victimisation will not be eliminated, our producer cost is 12.43 TL. We want the inflation difference to be added to this and announced in such a way that the producer will receive it. As we said, we want a realistic milk price to be determined in which the producer will make a profit in return for his labour,” he said.
IF NO MEASURES ARE TAKEN, COW SLAUGHTER CAN BE SERIOUSLY ACCELERATED!
“Otherwise, our producers will be in serious trouble with this inflation and cow slaughter will accelerate at a serious rate,” he warned.
Pointing out that another issue is to raise the milk support premium paid by the state to encourage the producer, he explained, “With this hike, the registration rate in milk will also go up. If the support to the producer is not sufficient, he/she may tend to sell his/her milk to the industry without registration. In this case, it is not right to criticise the producer. Registration means the concrete evidence that production contributes to the country’s economy.”
“We should raise subsidies in a way to prevent unregistered production. We urgently demand that the Food Committee listen to our voice and update the raw milk price in favour of our producers,” he added…
