The shortage of milk could give farmers more power again. This is what Jan Derck van Karnebeek, CEO of Royal Friesland Campina (RFC), said at the Dutch National Dairy Congress this week. The market situation will be helpful in discussions with retailers, he said. ‘The old approach that supermarkets could put volumes out to tender and that there was always someone who could supply the dairy at a lower price is definitely over,’ said van Karnebeek.
The trade war with Chna could potentially damage global trade in dairy products. But the majority of FrieslandCampina’s revenue in China comes from the production of infant formula and ingredients for infant formula, and these products are being emphatically excluded from the discussion by the Chinese because they simply need the quality from the Netherlands, said van Karnebeek.
The higher import tariffs threatened by incoming US President Trump, on the other hand, are likely to have an impact, as the Netherlands exports quite a lot of cheese to the United States. ‘But shelf prices in America are already much higher than in the Netherlands, so I don’t know if a 20% increase in tariffs will have a big impact. I’m not worried about that at the moment, but we have to be careful,’ said Van Karnebeek.
Photo: F/C
