The President promises to do everything possible to support dairy farmers

On November 12, dairy producers met with the President of Latvia to discuss the possible involvement of the country's highest official in solving the problems of dairy farmers, which are largely caused by Russia's ban on the supply of dairy products from European Union producers, as well as price fluctuations for dairy products in the world. From our organizations, Deputy Chairman Juris Cīrulis and Board Member Ieva Alpa-Eizenberga participated.

The President of Latvia expressed unequivocal support for the position of the dairy industry representatives, while emphasizing that Latvia itself must also seek all possible support solutions that would strengthen milk producers and help them overcome the difficult period. The President of Latvia also expressed his determination to argue Latvia's position in all negotiations with senior EU officials, which will begin this week in connection with Latvia's upcoming presidency of the EU Council, and to do everything possible to ensure that the EU compensates for these losses in accordance with its promises.

Juris Cīrulis, deputy chairman of the association “Farmers' Council” and owner of the farm “Mežacīruļi”, admitted: "We must give back to Europe what has been promised to us. If we are not slaughtering our herds today, we should thank the Latvian government for its support for breeding. We believe that the President of the Republic can become a patron of our industry, both in addressing these issues and in helping to find new markets elsewhere in the world, which has already begun successfully."

Milk producers also expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that actual prices of dairy products in trade have not fallen, which in fact means that only milk producers are suffering losses, as the purchase price of milk has fallen sharply and, especially for farms that have credit obligations to expand production, significantly increases the cost of one liter of milk. Milk producers confirmed that currently all farms in general are selling their milk below cost. The cost is already critically higher than 30 cents. In addition, regardless of the crisis situation, milk producers are threatened with payment for overspent milk quotas, although the EU as a whole is not fulfilling milk quotas. Latvia is also not allowed to borrow from neighboring Lithuania, which is not fulfilling milk quotas.

Dairy farmers cited the expected increase in electricity prices from the new year as an additional factor that will affect milk producers' costs.

In conclusion, the President of Latvia promised to do everything possible to emphasize the critical situation of Latvian dairy farmers and the need to support them in every conversation with top EU officials, and also added that he would discuss with the head of government the possibilities of attracting financial resources from the "Altum" support program to overcome the dairy farmers' crisis.

In turn, yesterday, November 13, the Saeima decided to address the European Commission with a request to urgently find a positive solution to the issue of granting direct compensatory aid to Latvian milk producers in order to avoid irreversible consequences for the Latvian dairy industry.

Photo: Office of the President