February 14, 2012

The Agricultural Information and Rural Business Centre said that Lithuanian producers target to sell their milk in neighbouring countries at higher prices, while local processors import an increasing amount of raw milk from abroad.

Lithuanian purchasers last year bought 1.317 million tonnes of milk from local milk producers, up by 3.1% compared with 2010, and 294,300 tonnes of milk in Latvia, Poland and Estonia, up by 43.1%, according to the centre's publication Agrorinka (Agrimarket).

The average purchase price for raw whole milk in Lithuania last year rose by 14.1% to LTL985.42 (US$375.47) per tonne, while the average milk purchase price abroad went up by 15.6% to LTL1,126 (US$429.03).

Latvia remains the main milk import market. However, milk purchases from the neighbouring country are on the decline, while milk imports from Estonia are rising, according to Agrorinka.