Last week, Edinburgh in the UK played host to the European Dairy Association (EDA) Annual Congress, which took an in-depth look at the current state of the dairy industry.
Kevin Bellamy, senior analyst at Rabobank expressed his view on the continued global growth of 2% or more.
“There is clearly too much milk on the world market and leading dairy countries, such as New Zealand, have been facing extremely challenging conditions. Emerging markets should provide the opportunity for more balanced growth on the international market,’” he says.
He cited the challenging market conditions in the US to be significant for the future of the dairy industry highlighting, “There are rising stocks in the US which is likely to reach a tipping point, resulting in milk prices falling by the end of 2015” and the strength of the dollar eventually hampering export efforts.
These changing conditions could lead to one billion litres of less surplus on the world market.
Bellamy adds, “Demand for dairy will expand, particularly driven by emerging markets, and this will result in more target destinations for companies. There will be plenty of opportunities for dairy built primarily on population growth and per capita consumption.”
Future programmes to facilitate job creation, training and development were mentioned within talks at the event.
Chris Edwards, business development manager at Tetra Pak, promoted the Eden project, a UK initiative to specifically train dairy technicians and engineers. “The Eden Project was created from concept in 2007 and has been organic ever since. Its aim is to tackle the acute skills shortage particularly in the UK dairy industry but reflected across Europe. Since then we have seen the training scheme grow and develop into something really relevant, up to date and special for our industry.
“It’s about developing knowledge, skills and behaviours for the future of young dairy technical talent by creating a shared learning environment for our future colleagues,” he says.
Also on the agenda was the future for the dairy industry as a whole. With this in mind, Dairy UK chairman Dr David Dobbin called on the industry to focus on growing added value sales to the domestic and export markets, as well as increasing the promotional activity of dairy products to the public. “The fundamental cause of the adverse dairy markets of the last year was over production with the growth in global milk production overtaking demand,” he notes.
“However, our members are optimistic, not pessimistic, about their future. We are acutely aware of the challenges we need to overcome to succeed. We need to build our competitiveness focusing on improving on product and process innovation and supply chain integrity. And we need to actively promote and educate emerging generations on the nutritional value of dairy products.
“While we look to government and the EU Commission to help us create an environment where we can succeed, first and foremost we in the British dairy industry must take the lead and take control over our own destiny.”
In response to the issues rose during the event, Dr Judith Bryans, chief executive of Dairy UK concluded, “The UK dairy industry works hard to address any skills shortage and to ensure the future of the dairy industry is sustainable. We are committed to promoting the dairy industry as a career rich sector.
“The results so far have been encouraging and the dairy sector constantly strives to come up with workable solutions. Sustainability remains at the heart of the agenda across Europe.”
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