New CEO Milcobel has to boost milk price

The Belgian dairy cooperative Milcobel has appointed a new CEO. Starting tomorrow (May 19), the Fleming Nils van Dam will hand out the sheets. One of his tasks is to achieve the highest possible milk price for the member dairy farmers. His predecessor failed on this point. 

With the appointment of Van Dam, Milcobel says it will bring in 'a seasoned manager' with more than 30 years of experience in the food industry. He worked for the Anglo-Dutch food group Unilever and the Belgian beer brewer AB-Inbev, among others. For the past year, he was CEO of Duval Union Consulting. 

The vacancy for the top boss at the largest milk processor in Belgium became available in December. At that time, the collaboration with former CEO Pieter Koopmans was immediately terminated, because profitability under his leadership was disappointing. 

Milk price under €30
Realizing the maximum value creation for the approximately 2.600 member dairy farmers (both in milk price and in company or shareholder value) is one of the tasks for the new CEO. He is taking office in a challenging time, because the dairy market has been hit hard by the corona crisis.

The milk price of Milcobel has fallen in recent months to below the limit of €30 per 100 kilos in April. The member dairy farmers will probably not be happy with this level, which means that the brand new CEO Van Dam will be able to work hard from tomorrow. 

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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