ZAGREB, July 16, 2020 - The Ministry of Agriculture is following the situation in the dairy sector and will soon meet with representatives of leading dairy industries, Minister Marija Vuckovic said on Thursday, commenting on a decision by the Meggle company to phase out its production in Croatia by the end of the year.
After Meggle Croatia announced that it would phase out its production in Croatia, the ministry has been following the situation, and very soon it will meet with representatives of leading dairy industries to ensure the continuation of milk production at dairy farms that sell their milk to Meggle, the minister underlined.
According to her information, this concerns 340 dairy farms with a total production of 26 million kilograms of milk or 6% of the total quantity of milk that is delivered to Croatian dairies each year.
The Ministry of Agriculture will conduct all the necessary activities and invest all its efforts to preserve milk production at farms that are associated with Meggle, Vuckovic said.
The Croatian Agriculture Chamber (HPK) considers Meggle's decision to be yet another blow to local milk production.
"This decision will be a new blow to milk production in Croatia given that this sector has continually recorded a fall in milk production over the past 13 years. A large number of farmers have given up and Croatia's milk self-sufficiency has fallen to 40%," HPK underlined.
HPK said that it is important for the Agriculture Ministry to take action and find an alternative solution for 200 small farms that sold their milk to Meggle.
HPK also announced that it would call for an urgent meeting with the ministry and relevant institutions so that potential dairies take over buying milk from Meggle's associates in time before farmers give up and stop their production.
