Agriculture, EU – Baltic States, Latvia, Markets and Companies

The average raw milk price in April was EUR 19.52 per centner. This is 14% less than a year ago, and 33% less than in July 2014 – one month before Russia's embargo.

Milk prices continue to decrease across the entire European Union, with the average price falling to EUR 29.36 per centner in March. The average milk price in Latvia in March was EUR 20.7 – the lowest in the EU. In Lithuania, the average milk price was EUR 20.73 and in Estonia 22.74 per centner. Cyprus recorded the highest average milk price in March – EUR 56.32 per centner.

The Agriculture Ministry's report also says that 16,620 tons of pasteurized milk was produced in the first quarter in Latvia, which is 5.3% more than in the same period of 2015, as well as 6,650 tons of sour cream (5.3% decrease), 4,510 tons of butter (up 276%), and 6,630 tons of cheese (38% fall).

According to the Agriculture Ministry, overproduction will continue to affect the global dairy market, and no notable improvements are to be expected at least until 2017.

At the same time, positive trends can also be observed on the market – import of dairy products by China increased in the first quarter this year – the demand for butter rose 62%, cheese – 40%, powdered milk – 25%, and condensed milk – 65%.

There are about 8,000 dairy farms in Latvia, the number of dairy cows this past April was 161,932, down from 165,984 a year ago.