Milk processing companies are continuously increasing the prices of dairy products and its sub-products throughout this year.

Starting this week, the price of milk with 3.2% fat, about 1.4 liters, will be sold at 190 ALL from 160 ALL that has been sold so far.

Milk processing companies have notified retail traders of the next increase since July 20. As dairy prices are not stopping, minority traders are alarmed that there is no cheese on the market. Cheese prices have increased by almost 100% this year, but now the product is missing from the market, it cannot be found.

Sources from milk processing companies claim that the price increase is being affected by the lack of raw material in the market. The decrease in the number of cattle has affected the reduction of supplies of raw materials, causing the current production to be sold at very expensive prices.

The decline in milk production on farms has created a crisis for cheese. Factories have sold the entire quantity of milk as processed milk and yogurt and have not been able to reserve the quantities needed to make cheese. From the time of production, the cheese requires at least 6 months of aging, but it seems that the milk shortage crisis that started at the end of last year is having an effect on the cheese.

At the beginning of June, milk processing companies increase the prices for about 55 items of butter, cheese, yogurt, etc. from 10 to 50 percent. The biggest increase was applied to the by-products of butter and cheese.

The dairy crisis is being caused by the rapid decline in livestock numbers. In 2021, the number of cattle has decreased by 7%, but since 2014 the decrease is about 50%. According to official data, in 2021, there were about 336,000 cattle in the country from more than 654,000 in 2014.

Livestock farmers claim that the difficulties created after the war in Ukraine, with the increase in prices, will bring a drastic decrease in cattle heads during 2022. Ervin Resuli, an expert in the livestock sector, who also breeds a cattle farm, said that the costs per head have increased to 50%, while prices have not been transferred to the sale of milk as a whole, announcing that dairy prices will increase further.

Mr. Resuli says that the daily cost of a cow for milk only for food is 1687 ALL, almost 50% higher than at the beginning of 2021. Meanwhile, bulk milk is about 66 ALL per kilogram.

(Source: Monitor)