MTC members have to choose after making tons of additional deposits

Director Dirk Coucke confirms that the situation is tense for many companies, but states that in the second week of March the members were given the choice whether they wanted to stay or not. "70% then indicated that they wanted to continue."

Coucke says that he is also in regular contact with the banks about the situation that has arisen, both in Belgium and in the Netherlands. "They have said that if there are members who do not have the immediate liquidity to post the required guarantees, they are willing to discuss this. Most members who request this will receive credit proposals in the short term. That is for a usual period of twelve to eighteen months."

Coucke denies stories that MTC's entire assets have evaporated. "That's untrue." He does not deny that it is not easy at the moment. "But we now suddenly find ourselves in a situation that we have never seen before. In previous years we have always done well and everyone was satisfied. Yet there have always been warnings that things could change."

Your co-founder Filip Tilleman says that he has repeatedly stressed the importance of all kinds of additional safety mechanisms, but that his warnings have been ignored. According to him, too much was hedged too early.
"Is Mr. Tilleman suddenly going to distance himself from decisions for which he as a director is partly responsible? Moreover, what he says is not correct."

He states that he has been removed from the executive board since February 2021 and no longer has access to the daily affairs.
"He simply no longer participates in the fortnightly milk chat, in which we agree on how we will proceed. That's all."

I think the criticism concerns the risk profile. That is something that several dissatisfied members also mention. Forward market positions that could be liquidated from a loss mitigation perspective were not liquidated and new positions were recommitted at too low a level. "That is a matter of hindsight. Trading on the futures market means finding the balance. Every time you have a 50% chance of a decline and a 50% chance of an increase. You do not know in advance what the market will do. We have also certainly tried to take risky positions. to stop."

I would like to quote Mr Tilleman. He says that you cannot continue to manage a company with an annual turnover of €30 million without an external auditor, someone with professional knowledge and also with enough distance.
"As a cooperative, we closely monitor the market, we meet every fortnight and make well-considered decisions. Why do we need an external auditor? There is currently no statutory auditor obligation for the MTC. We are a cooperative that also wants to keep a close eye on the money. as far as costs are concerned. But if the members want it, then that's OK as far as I'm concerned."

A number of members say they find it difficult to go against you and that you have surrounded yourself too much with like-minded people. What they also find vulnerable is that you have access to both MTC and DLV Advies data. You can see the entire business situation and know their vulnerabilities, so to speak. Is that double position useful?
"Wow! You can't mix one thing with the other. DLV is not involved in this. The DLV only provides advice to farmers and horticulturists and handles the company data of its customers very discreetly."

You do operate under the wings of DLV. You are at DLV yourself and work with other DLV advisors. In the Netherlands, MTC is also not its own legal entity.
"DLV is one of the initiators of MTC. MTC is a Belgian cooperative that also operates across the border, just as FrieslandCampina does the other way around. No additional entity is required for this. That fits within European rules."

What about supervision? Cooperatives can indeed engage in activities subject to supervision.
"We discussed the MTC exemption with the Belgian financial supervisory authority at the time and inform them every year that we relied on that exemption, as required by law."

On March 22 you will have a members meeting in Sint-Niklaas. Then your fellow director Tilleman hopes to have a number of adjustments made to get the cooperative into calmer waters, with adjusted rules. Partly in that context, a meeting with more than sixty members was held in Aalter a few weeks ago.
"As a cooperative, we keep a close eye on the pulse and we do our best to limit unnecessary risks. In the last week I have spoken to at least a hundred members on the telephone. I also very much understand the unrest that exists among the members, but As a cooperative, we keep a close eye on the pulse. We will not hesitate to discuss any desired adjustments with our members."