Milk to be dumped in protest against new rules

[webfact]

Milk to be dumped in protest against new rules

By The Nation

 

File photo

 

DAIRY FARMERS are threatening to dump milk in protest over the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry’s new regulations, which they say has affected milk production nationwide and resulted in a surplus of 110 tonnes of milk per day or 3,300 tonnes per month.

 

Citing an intent to create market diversity, the ministry recently issued new criteria for the school-milk scheme, which now welcomes anyone to supply 1,300 tonnes of milk per day for schools.

 

The Milk Board has also joined dairy cooperatives to object to the new approach.

 

The group, led by Dairy Cooperatives Federation of Thailand executives Nairit Jamlay, Subin Pom-o-cha and Winna Srisongkhram, voiced their opposition yesterday, saying previous governments had applied fair criteria to the scheme, leaving no unsold leftovers. They said local dairy farmers were also allowed to export their produce to other Asean countries. 

 

They noted that milk production was divided into three batches daily: the first batch of 1,300 tonnes went to schools, the second batch of 700 tonnes was sold commercially and the third batch of 1,400 tonnes was processed into powdered milk. 

 

The new criteria, however, is causing problems because it allows anybody to supply for the batch meant for schools, which is resulting in some people who are either not producers or have an insufficient capacity to cover the batch by purchasing from other sources. Hence, this is adversely affecting the 30,000 dairy farmers, who now end up with 110 tonnes of surplus milk daily, which they cannot sell and are forced to dump it. 

 

In a move to protest against this “unprecedented sabotage of dairy farmers’ stability”, the group said it will organise a milk-dumping event to raise awareness of their plight. 

 

The Milk Board, meanwhile, has called for the ministry or authorised agency to review the controversial regulation and consider implementing three criteria:

- Allowing small cooperatives to join the school milk scheme, so pre-existing suppliers providing less than 60,000 bags of milk daily will not need to reduce their capacity; 

 

- Prioritising the use of raw milk produced locally in order to prevent people from bringing substandard milk from elsewhere; 

 

- Helping affected farmers as they do not have access to other markets to sell the excess raw milk. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30369840

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-05-23

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[Snow Leopard]

Given the price of cheese and other dairy products in Thailand, there must be some scope here to use excess milk production. Of course, this would require some joined up thinking. ????

[Clifford S]

Still cant figure out why Milk is twice the price in LOS compared to the UK...

(Blame BREXIT !)

[PatOngo]

No use crying over spilt milk!

[justin case]

let them import french cheese experts... how come thais cannot come up with solutions for excess ?  too much rat milk?

[legend49]

something strange about their milk, when its microwaved in coffee it goes off. Must have amazing cows too, increase production by 110 tonnes daily?

[BritManToo]

If they reduced the price, people would drink more.

Cottage cheese, easy to make.

Yogurt, also easy to make.

Edited May 22, 2019 by BritManToo

[graemeaylward]

Given the price of cheese and other dairy products in Thailand, there must be some scope here to use excess milk production. Of course, this would require some joined up thinking. [emoji848]

I would give my eye teeth (if I had any) for some decent strong cheese. Dairy,goat and sheep farmers in other countries produce their own in both large and small scale. The initial outlay is probably not too expensive and a start up contribution from government could lead to rich pickings, for those willing to give it a try!


Sent from my iPad using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[jerojero]

So the 30,000 dairy farmers had no idea this was coming and the new competition they now face might reduce demand for their milk? No plans to reduce production in anticipation of this, but simply continue to (over) produce, and then find they have milk surplus? Great planning. Sheesh!

[Denim]

36 minutes ago, Clifford S said:

Still cant figure out why Milk is twice the price in LOS compared to the UK...

(Blame BREXIT !)

Back handers to cows. There can be no udder reason.

[geoffbezoz]

2 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

If they reduced the price, people would drink more.

Cottage cheese, easy to make.

Yogurt, also easy to make.

40 years ago there was hardly any real dairy products sold in Thailand.  Milk and its by products provide a high source of calcium and Thais made up for this by cooking fish so that there bones became crispy. Consequentially the Thai preference for products such as yogurt , cheese, milk  etc was not there so hence no demand.  Of course now with a younger generation, exposure to other foods as many Thais now travel, I guess has changed the Thai "tastebuds" slightly and real dairy products can be seen, albeit expensive, in several places.

 

20 years ago you could not buy normal pasteurised milk in Thailand and even a few years ago it was very difficult to find pasteurised cows milk anywhere. Now it can be found in most stores and even seven elevens/Lotus Express shops in outlying areas.  That indicates that the demand is there, or else they wouldn't stock it.  Yes it is more expensive than say the UK but I would assume that is due to volume production being not there.  Same goes for cheese. I actually only know of one small Farang run outfit in Thailand that makes its own UK type cheeses, again expensive but less than the price of the imports in the stores ( assuming you buy in quantity).  Again once or if Thai demand increases for these type of cheeses I would expect prices to come down if production levels increase.

[geoffbezoz]

13 minutes ago, graemeaylward said:

I would give my eye teeth (if I had any) for some decent strong cheese. Dairy,goat and sheep farmers in other countries produce their own in both large and small scale. The initial outlay is probably not too expensive and a start up contribution from government could lead to rich pickings, for those willing to give it a try!


Sent from my iPad using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

Where do you live ?  The producer of strong mature chedders, Leicester etc etc  I know in Thailand will only deliver locally to his location or else you can collect. He will not send.

Edited May 23, 2019 by geoffbezoz

[overherebc]

49 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

If they reduced the price, people would drink more.

Cottage cheese, easy to make.

Yogurt, also easy to make.

But the yogurt becomes expensive because of all the sugar that goes into it.

[BritManToo]

2 minutes ago, overherebc said:

But the yogurt becomes expensive because of all the sugar that goes into it.

I don't put any sugar in my yogurt, and I make it 2-3x a week.

Pasteurised milk + live yogurt + 12 hours = yogurt

Milk + bring to boil + citric acid = cottage cheese

 

These are products everyone can make with no training, no investment and no special equipment

Edited May 23, 2019 by BritManToo

[overherebc]

1 minute ago, BritManToo said:

I don't put any sugar in my yogurt, and I make it 2-3x a week.

Very easy to do I know. I'm talking about the stuff in the shops, even the plain yogurt, as it's called, is inedible because of the 15% sugar in it.

[Snow Leopard]

1 hour ago, Clifford S said:

Still cant figure out why Milk is twice the price in LOS compared to the UK...

(Blame BREXIT !)

Maybe because Thailand is rainforest and the UK has massive pasture land might have something to do with it. Me not being a rocket scientist and all. 

[BritManToo]

1 minute ago, Snow Leopard said:

Maybe because Thailand is rainforest and the UK has massive pasture land might have something to do with it. Me not being a rocket scientist and all. 

But on the other hand, China and NZ are closer and sell it cheap.

So it's not as if there aren't sources.

[hotchilli]

Change their thinking... why dump excess milk, make cheese or other products?

[atyclb]

1 hour ago, geoffbezoz said:

I actually only know of one small Farang run outfit in Thailand that makes its own UK type cheeses, again expensive but less than the price of the imports in the stores ( assuming you buy in quantity).  Again once or if Thai demand increases for these type of cheeses I would expect prices to come down if production levels increase.

 

go to makro and you will find many thailand made cheeses and at reasonable prices. they even make parmesan and its not bad.

[VocalNeal]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

The new criteria, however, is causing problems because it allows anybody to supply for the batch meant for schools, which is resulting in some people who are either not producers or have an insufficient capacity to cover the batch by purchasing from other sources.

 

Read between the lines "money for the boys" middlemen schemes.

[geoffbezoz]

12 minutes ago, atyclb said:

 

go to makro and you will find many thailand made cheeses and at reasonable prices. they even make parmesan and its not bad.

Yes I am aware of that but their hard cheeses, Chedder etc that they label as mature I find pretty tasteless by comparison. That is why I stated I know of one small Farang producer in Thailand whose cheese products are more akin in flavour to UK/NZ quality mature chedders.

[Snow Leopard]

40 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

But on the other hand, China and NZ are closer and sell it cheap.

So it's not as if there aren't sources.

UHT milk or milk powder yes of course. not fresh milk. 

[essox essox]

what are the NEW RULES???

[BritManToo]

13 minutes ago, Snow Leopard said:

UHT milk or milk powder yes of course. not fresh milk. 

You think a lot of the milk sold here in the supermarkets isn't made from powdered milk?

[Jumbo1968]

3 hours ago, Clifford S said:

Still cant figure out why Milk is twice the price in LOS compared to the UK...

(Blame BREXIT !)

Easy to answer that, milk is a loss leader for supermarkets in the U.K., they ‘screw’ the producers as well.

[geoffbezoz]

5 minutes ago, Jumbo1968 said:

Easy to answer that, milk is a loss leader for supermarkets in the U.K., they ‘screw’ the producers as well.

Just looked and it appears a gallon of milk in the US is $3.50. or 3.78 Lt.  or 29.7 baht per Litre at current rates as opposed to the current average UK price of 34 baht/liter.    Are the US producers similarity being "screwed" by the supermarkets ?

 

Perhaps a US knowledgeable person could answer this or is it that the production costs are much lower in the US than the UK which in turn are much lower than Thailand's ? Or maybe Thais make more profit perhaps per unit ?

[connda]

6 hours ago, Snow Leopard said:

Given the price of cheese and other dairy products in Thailand, there must be some scope here to use excess milk production. Of course, this would require some joined up thinking. ????

It would also mean lowing the price.  Econ 101 - more supply than demand = lower prices offered for the commodity.  Plus the milk suppliers should try thinking outside the box, like creating a Co-op and selling directly to consumers at a deep discount.

[Thaifriends]

All the sound is to avoid competition.

[CGW]

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

3 hours ago, overherebc said:

Very easy to do I know. I'm talking about the stuff in the shops, even the plain yogurt, as it's called, is inedible because of the 15% sugar in it.

 

There are local brands that don't add sugar, AFAIK.... Yolida LF yogurt is one... Caroline non fat greek yogurt and pot set low fat are another....