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MTC through the pain according to new CEO
After a number of turbulent years and an internal reorganization, the Milk Trading Company (MTC) can look ahead again. Last year a positive return was again achieved and the coming period is also approached with optimism. This is what new CEO Theo Coppens says.
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He was hired as CEO at the end of last year to continue to lead the company. This happened after Dirck Coucke had resigned as CEO and MTC and consultancy organization DLV had separated.
Only advisor
Coucke and partner Raf Beyers are still involved in the MTC, but only as advisors. They no longer have a role in decision-making, including in decisions regarding the placing of orders to cover the milk price, Coppens assures. Decisions to hedge the milk price are taken by the members in the so-called 'milk chat', perhaps on the advice of advisors, but it is the members who decide and pass on orders to DLV. He places these orders on to a broker. According to Coppens, the fact that there were problems with the website for a while had nothing to do with the internal adjustments.
Juridical procedure
The MTC, which Coppens now leads, has now lost a third of its once more than 300 members, it is reported. This was because the dairy market moved completely differently in 2021 and 2022 than MTC had thought possible and members had to pay a lot of extra money. That was because the milk price actually became much higher than the price for which it had been set. The departing members no longer wished to bear the losses and resigned. These members also criticized the dual role that Dirck Coucke had at the time as CEO and advisor.
Some even filed a lawsuit against MTC for alleged unlawful actions. Coppens does not want to say anything about this 'because the process is still ongoing.' However, he would like to say that MTC has not violated any licensing requirements in recent years when trading on the futures market, not in Belgium and not in the Netherlands. "We are not required to have a permit," he says.
Positive in 2023
Things went better for MTC members last year, the organization reports. In 2023, they received an additional payment of an average of six cents per liter on top of their fixed milk price. Coppens believes that the MTC is now over the pain again. "That is the image," he says. The view can move forward again. Whether new members will be recruited immediately is a question that Coppens cannot yet answer.