I hope you enjoy reading it! Your Stefanie Pionke, editor-in-chief of agrarzeitung (az).
In Berlin, everything revolves around milk in the second half of the week, the price of which had recently driven angry tractor columns onto the streets and in front of the supermarket warehouses. And in Australia, the virtual “Outlook Forum” for agricultural policy and economy is looking towards the future of uncertain markets.
Milk forum in politically turbulent times
At the turn of the year, reports of a reduction in the price of butter of up to 60 cents per kilogram caused a lot of trouble. Farmers blocked the stores of discounters, and the leader among discount supermarkets, Aldi, subsequently agreed to only purchase conventional and organic fresh milk from Germany in the future. For dairies, which may now have to separate the milk flows in the future, this is a challenge if they purchase goods across borders. In addition, there is the ongoing debate about the national implementation of the EU Directive against Unfair Trading Practices, or UTP Directive for short. This set of rules is intended to put the food retail trade, as the most powerful link within the food value chain, on the curb more than has been the case up to now. Now the tug-of-war between the federal states and the federal government, in the lead here is the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, has broken out as to which negotiating practices are on the “black list” of factual prohibitions and which are on the “gray list” of disreputable clauses, which should, however, remain permissible, provided that both Negotiating partners agree. In short: The milk price and the meat price in particular and the food prices in general as well as the balance of power in the value chain are more political than ever. In this environment takes place on Thursday and Friday the Berlin milk forum instead of – as it should be in times of pandemics, of course, virtually. The main topic is “Dairy farming between market reality and consumer wishes”. It will be about which factors move the milk market beyond soft factors such as the desire for animal welfare. Also on the program is who has the say in the milk value chain – farmers, processors or food retailers? You can guess three times! As far as the reality of the market is concerned: It was darker before. The Kiel raw material value for milk rose in February because the prices for butter and skimmed milk powder have recently risen again. In the case of skimmed milk powder on the international market, a multi-year foch was recently recorded.
Australia looks ahead
Am Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday the two-day conference “Abares Outlook Forum“ of the Australian Department of Agriculture, also virtually. Of course, this also includes the development of the market for grain, meat and milk. And that is fundamentally exciting for everyone who is on the move in these markets.
Abares forecast
Australia is facing a bumper crop
In addition, there is also a really exciting fundamental question on the program: What does the threat of de-globalization mean for trade? In the era of the presidency of now ex-US President Donald Trump, global, free trade, to put it cautiously, was not exactly booming. Now Democrat Biden is at the helm in the United States, which has put free markets or global challenges such as climate change back on the agenda of US politics. But: The corona pandemic arouses fears of a collapse of international supply chains and food security. While some grain importing nations are increasing imports of wheat, for example, in order to build up stocks, on the other hand there is a discussion about a return to global and local markets. The question is how the balance between free markets worldwide and foreclosure can be maintained? In the EU, the Mercosur agreement is once again being put up for discussion. And the United Kingdom officially became a third country for the European Union at the turn of the year. What future global free trade visions will have is therefore basically an exciting question.
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