Market on standby for Dutch milk cut of 5-25%

The Dutch dairy industry has told the European Commission it will lose only 5% of milk production in 2017, due to culling 190,000 dairy cows.

Dutch dairy farmers waiting since 2014 for better milk prices now have to cut numbers, even as the milk price recovers, so that the country can try to become compliant with EU phosphate limits.

Having increased production in 2016 by 8%, at an average milk price of 29c, Dutch farmers now have reduce production by at least 5%, even though their milk price has risen to 34c.