News milk
Agreement between Lactalis and farmers after pressure from Intermarché
Lactalis and supplier organisation Unell have reached an agreement on the milk price for 2025. They will receive €1,00 per 100 litres more than this year, plus €0,40 sustainability surcharge. The news comes shortly after CEO Thierry Cotillard of supermarket chain Intermarché said that he would not make price agreements with the French dairy industry as long as farmers do not know what they can expect.
Read this article?
Become a subscriber and get instant access
Choose the subscription that suits you
Negotiations on the milk price for 2025 have been ongoing since spring. According to the agreement now concluded, Lactalis farmers will receive a milk price of €47,70 per 100 litres next year. This is at 3,8% fat and 3,2% protein. Unell has 5.300 members and they supply 60% of the milk that Lactalis buys in France. Lactalis' total milk pool in France amounts to approximately 5 billion litres.
The dairy giant, owned by the Besnier family, is not the best payer of milk money. That title belongs more to the emerging family business LSDH (Laiterie Saint Denis de l'Hotel). This company is a major supplier of UHT milk to French supermarkets and pays farmers almost €52 per 100 litres. It is therefore a popular company to supply to. LSDH also seems to make the right choices for farmers. Not only does it still sell French 'fair milk' (C'est qui le patron), as known in the Netherlands from the DDB, but it is also in talks with a large group of farmers who are being sold by Lactalis. be put aside. LSDH believes it can take over at least a hundred of them.
The French spot milk price has been considerably higher than the factory price for a long time. The latter is on average between €45 and €51 per 100 litres, the spot milk price in France was on average €47 per 65 litres in week 100, according to French sources.