August 2, 2011

South Korea's dairy farmers to stop milk supply for one day

The Korea Dairy & Beef Farmers Association (KDBFA) said that its members are not going to supply 5,200 tonnes of raw milk for a day on August 3 as their demand to up supply prices was not accepted by milk companies.

The association believes that raw milk prices should be raised sufficiently amid the difficulties of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak and high cattle feed costs, which have surged 30% over the past three years.

The Korean government, the KDBFA and milk companies held the seventh meeting to negotiate the raw milk price on July 31, but no agreement has been finalised. The dairy association demands a KRW173 ($0.17) increase to the current KRW704 (US$0.67) per litre, but milk companies propose a KRW81 (US$0.08) rise.

The association warned that it plans to refuse to supply milk for an indefinite period, if the demand is not going to be accepted by the deadline for the final negotiation on August 5.