Off the wire
• China to deliver committed humanitarian aids to Syria soon: diplomat  • British FTSE 100 rises 1.59 pct on Wednesday  • Israeli opposition leader under probe over alleged graft  • Spain's home mortgages increase by 10.6 pct in January  • S. Africa wins global diplomatic service award  • Roundup: Palestinians demonstrate in Gaza, West Bank to mark 40th Land Day  • China to set up non-profit fund for private cultural relics  • "Batman v Superman" rules China's box office  • Shanghai sees increasing aging population in 2015  • Feature: Nuke terrorism haunts in shadow of Brussels attacks  
You are here: 　 Home

Lithuanian farmers stage protest over milk prices

Xinhua, March 31, 2016 Adjust font size:

Over 1,000 Lithuanian farmers staged a protest in front of the parliament's building in Vilnius on Wednesday, demanding better conditions for dairy farms and agriculture minister's resignation.

The farmers brought a skeleton of a cow to their rally, as well as a couple of trucks with cows and pigs livestock. However, the animals were not let outside into the capital city's main streets as permission for such action was not issued.

A week ago, Lithuanian parliament adopted a law setting lowest milk purchasing price at 16.5 eurocents for one liter. The rule should come into force in 2017. The law is yet to be signed by President Dalia Grybauskaite.

Farmers demand 25.2 eurocents/liter bottom milk purchasing price, as well as 70 million euro compensation due to losses suffered by local dairy farms last year.

Lithuanian farmers suffer from global milk demand crisis due to oversupply which is being observed in all Europe recently. Lithuanian dairy sector workers claim that the government's efforts to support the sector are not sufficient.

Virginija Baltraitiene, Lithuania's minister of agriculture, claimed that Lithuanian dairy sector is not at disadvantage compared with the rest of the EU.

"We can't change the global trends, the sector is in crisis at the moment," the minister was quoted as saying by local website vz.lt.

"There is a (milk demand ) crisis in all EU which is experiencing huge oversupply," she added.

Algirdas Butkevicius, Lithuania's prime minister, was more compliant and promised to raise the issue at the EU level.

"I will meet with commissioner Phil Hogan, responsible for the agricultural policy, and raise the issue," Butkevicius said in an interview with local broadcaster LRT. He was speaking after meeting with representatives of the Lithuanian Dairy Producers' Association and other agricultural organisations.

"There are also plans to meet with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in the nearest future and to inform him that Lithuanian dairy farmers have suffered the biggest losses in the EU," he added.

The head of government also called for addressing problem by all three Baltic countries together, rather than one by one.

With the end of the EU milk quota last year, a slowdown in global demand, and a Russian embargo on European foods, the milk prices in Europe have been under great pressure. Endit