ECONOMY

Energy crisis hits the dairy industry hard

Energy crisis hits the dairy industry hard

The energy crisis has also hit Greece’s dairy industry.

The dairy industries face higher energy and packaging costs and dairy farmers face higher energy and animal feed costs. The crisis seems to have hit farmers most, who complain about their flocks being underfed. And many of them prefer to slaughter the animals for their meat rather than keep them to produce milk.

Dairy industry managers, talking to Kathimerini at the start of the summer, were estimating that dairy farmers were bringing in 4-5% less milk than in years past. Official statistics about the first half of 2022 bear them out: There was 331,730 tons of cow milk delivered during that period, down from 346,504 tons during the first half of 2021, a 4.26% drop. The number of producers also keeps steadily decreasing, from 2,160 last year to just over 2,000 early in 2022 to below 1,900 since April.

Similar cuts are seen in other types of milk: Deliveries of sheep’s milk have fallen to 517,840 tons from 527,784, a 1.88% drop, while goat’s milk deliveries slumped 5.62%, from 120,380 tons in the first half of 2021 to 113,606 this year.

Scarcity and rising costs have boosted producer prices: In June, the producer price for cow’s milk was €0.51 per liter, up from €0.38, or 34%, from a year earlier; for sheep’s milk, prices rose 30%, from €0.93 per liter to €1.21; for goat’s milk, from €0.58 to €0.56, or 30%. Both sheep and goat milk producer prices are at historical highs, dairy industry Dodoni notes.

The industry, not wanting to see its profit margins collapse, only absorbs part of the rise in cost. The rest is taken by consumers: According to statistics authority ELSTAT, the price of milk has risen 10.55% since early 2022 and 15.1% year-on-year; cheeses are on average up 15% and 19%, respectively; yogurt is 7% higher than in early 2022.

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