German milk processor files for bankruptcy

The financially troubled BMG (Berliner Milcheinfuhr Gesellschaft) filed for bankruptcy on Friday 9 March. A possible rescue plan, which was discussed earlier this week, has not survived.

According to the German Dairy Farmers' Association (BDM), BMG bought about 300 million kilos of milk 'too much'. This milk is poorly valued. BDM chairman Romuald Schaber previously said that a possible bankruptcy would be a major catastrophe for German dairy farmers. An insider says that the bankruptcy is causing a lot of tension and uncertainty on the German dairy market.

mismanagement
The company in question has 1 factory in Hagenow (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) in Germany, but processes more milk together with other parties. The milk money is said to be guaranteed until next Sunday. However, suppliers seem to have received limited milk money for a long time.

The management of the company is blamed for the financial problems. At the beginning of March, it was already revealed that many dairy farmers were considering switching to another processor. 

More than 3% of the milk pee
The company bought about 2016 billion kilos of milk in 1,15, the company reports on its website own website† That amounts to almost 3,6% of the German milk lake. The objective was to further expand this milk pool over 2017. This was not successful, because the market allocated a sold volume of 2017 million kilos of milk to the company in 950.

Wouter Job

Wouter Baan is editor-in-chief of Boerenbusiness. He also focuses on dairy, pig and meat markets. He also follows (business) developments within agribusiness and interviews CEOs and policymakers.

w.baan@boerenbusiness. Nl

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