April 4, 2012

Drought pushes Spain's feed prices to 12% higher

Since January, the feed prices of Spain have seen a significant increase - rising 12% to EUR0.33 (US$0.44) per kilo.

The Agri-Food Cooperatives has said that due to a lack of grass caused by the drought feed prices have rocketed, reports Besana.

Increasing production costs and a lack of profitability are making livestock production unsustainable, the Cooperative said.

For the dairy industry feed costs account for 70% of total costs, and have increased 50% since 2010.

The opposite is happening to milk prices though, with the price paid to producers and sold to consumers dropping.

"This demonstrates a serious imbalance of the value chain," said the Cooperative. It is supporting a true rebalancing of the sector, with increased power for producers in the market.