News milk prices
Milk price Cono falls further behind
The recent milk price rally has a bitter aftertaste for the members of Cono Kaasmakers. The milk price cannot keep up with the increases made by other processors. Also in September the milk price remains stable for the third month in a row. The prospects are also bleak.
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De basic milk price of all processors is now above €60 per 100 kilos, except for Cono. The negative difference with other processors has now risen to just under €4 and that is quite a lot. While other processors increased, the Cono milk price remained in place. Last year around this time, Cono was still in the upper regions of the Milk Price Comparator. Also including bonuses and incentives Cono can't keep up with the rest.
Branded cheese is less profitable
The cause of the milk price gap is known. Cono focuses on the higher segment with branded cheese. In recent months, these prices have not been able to match the price increases that were visible in unbranded commodity cheese.
Due to extremely high inflation, this situation may persist for a longer period of time. Because purchasing power is under pressure, consumers are increasingly switching to discounters. These signals are also visible in Germany, an important sales market for Cono. At this point the problem is, because Beemster cheese is often not available in discounters. Cono's much-praised added value strategy with the Caring Dairy program therefore appears to be vulnerable.