DAIRY WORKERS MEET WITH AGRICULTURE MINISTER

ZAGREB, March 11 (Hina) - We tolerated in silence the first wave of raising the cost of milk, but we will request a review of offered calculations for reiterated demands by daily manufacturers, Assistant Croatian Economy Minister Kruno Kovacevic said in Zagreb on Thursday. Present at the meeting at the Agriculture Ministry were dairy producers, leading manufacturers, scientists with the dairy industry, and representatives of the ministries of the economy and agriculture. Agriculture and Forestry Minister Ivan Djurkic stressed prices would be adjusted to the demands of the World Trade Organisation as soon as Croatia joins it. He announced Croatia will face a decrease in financial stimuli for milk production. Commenting of the current situation in milk production in Croatia, Djurkic said it was unacceptable that the farmer does his part of the work and then wondered when he would be paid for it. The state had not paid stimuli for milk production for December, but this did not justify a delay in paying farmers, as stimuli were only a part of the total price of milk, he said. Milk producer Marijan Hartman claimed manufacturers had earned from the last price increase, not farmers. Dragutin Gregoric from the Dukat dairy said the state had not paid the dairy for fresh milk since the end of last year. Milk should be paid according to quality, but the price is also influenced by the trip from the producer to manufacturer, they stressed. Antun Vrandecic from Split's daily Mils said three trucks from his company maid daily trips of almost 850km to collect about 12,500 litres of milk. Participants of the meeting stressed dairy workers should come up with a joint marketing approach to increase the consumption of milk. According to statistics, the consumption of milk in Croatia is among the lowest in Europe. Manufacturers warned about problems with traders and payments for their products. (hina) lml