Milk prices slide, farmers see losses

Dairy farmers in Ho Chi Minh City’s Cu Chi District January 8 said they have been forced to start selling their cows as milk prices have dropped while the cost of feed has skyrocketed.

A dairy cow earlier sold for VND27-30 million, but now sells for just around VND20 million.

The city Farmers Association has been petitioning businesses to increase the cost of milk so that farmers can maintain their cows, said the association’s deputy head of the economic and social department Nguyen Van Tui.

He said, however, that most businesses had not raised prices in the last year. Their reasons for setting low prices were unreasonable, Mr. Tui added.

Businesses now pay just VND5,500-to 7,000 per kilogram of milk.

The association next week will ask the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to reconsider the milk prices set by businesses in the hopes of raising them, Mr. Tui said.

HCMC currently has around 77,000 dairy cows in suburban districts.

Tags: Vietnam agriculture, Vietnam milk prices

Posted by VBN on Jan 10 2010. Filed under Agriculture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry