|
Dairy market could resume growth - December 10th, 2009
The dairy market could return to the more than 20% growth rate registered in 2008 but no sooner than in the second half of next year, following the stagnation in terms of value posted this year, according to dairy processors; they predict that the effects of the crisis will no longer be felt next year as strong as in 2009.
Next year will start with economic difficulties, as prices will increase gradually in the first three months of next year, and a 5-8% rise is expected at the end of the first quarter, due to increases in the prices of utilities and imported raw materials, officials of Romanian Employers' Association in the Dairy Industry (APRIL) said. "In September alone, the price of imported milk increased by 20%," Valentin Blanaru, APRIL's General Manager, told - Business Standard.
The official estimates that imports will grow in the near future. In fact, processors often resort to imports in the cold season, because the quantity of milk collected from local farmers is insufficient. "Moreover, as of January, I believe that farmers will no longer be motivated to produce milk for processing, considering that they will be no longer subsidized for the quality of milk. More than 80% of the 946,000 farms produce low quantity milk, having one or two cows. Under these circumstances, processors will have to resort to the import of raw material more often," Blanaru added. The 20% decline registered in the first three months of this year on the domestic dairy market was recovered in the second and third quarters, and estimates for the whole of 2009 indicate stagnation in terms of value at the 2008 level, of EUR 1.1 billion.
Producers say that in this year of crisis consumers bought less, but orientated towards quality products. Another strategy adopted by producers for preserving growth targeted the readjustment of the portfolio and the expansion of the ranges with new products. "Romanians are always interested in trying new products. That is why we opted for expanding our portfolio in this period, by entering the fresh milk segment, on which we plan to become one of the top 3 players in the future," Tzafrir Granat, Muller's Vice President for Marketing informed.
The fresh milk segment is currently dominated by three players, Lactalis with the LaDorna brand, holding a 36% market share, Albalact, with the Fulga brand (19%) and Friesland with the Milli Brand (11%), according to the latest MEMRB survey.
Source : Agerpres
|
