Consumers will be forced to FORK out a little more for milk and dairy products due to an international and local milk shortage.
The SA dairy industry produces about two billion litres of milk a year, and imports 300 million litres. But imports this year are expected to almost halve because of the international shortage and increased international prices, according to Bertus de Jongh, managing director of the Milk Producers’ Organisation.
The industry will not be able to make up for this shortfall as the number of dairy farmers in the country has decreased from over 8 000 to only 3 900 due to unfavourable market conditions. De Jongh noted that as many as 30 farmers have left the industry per month due to low producer prices for milk over the past two years.
Many dairy farmers have adapted feeding programmes to compensate for the price of feed, which has risen by almost 30% since September last year.
Some farmers have also sold their dairy cows to the meat market, as meat is currently more profitable than milk. “It would take a couple of months to increase production again by improving the feed of animals, but it can take years to replace slaughtered animals,” said De Jongh.
Tobias Doyer, CEO of the Agricultural Business Chamber, said the efficiency through which the price increase will be translated down the supply chain to farmers will determine whether they will increase production or not. – Glenneis Erasmus
