According to dairy farmers' representative Antun Laslo, milk farmers did not deliver about one million litres of milk on Monday and as their demands have not been met the protest measures are being extended and an even greater quantity would not reach manufacturers today.
Farmers from Vukovar-Srijem, Pozega-Slavonia, and Medjimurje counties joined the protest and a larger part of Istria County has halted milk deliveries as well.
In the meantime, they will give the milk away for free or spill what is left into drains.
Laslo reiterated that the entire situation was quite unfortunate and it was high time that those responsible in government realised that farmers were not beggars but were asking for realistic demands in order to preserve the milk industry in Croatia.
The vice president of the HSUPM association of milk farmers, Nedjeljko Babic, said yesterday, when the delivery was first stopped, he had no information on when negotiations with dairy manufacturers and the Agriculture Ministry would begin.
He warned that the situation in the milk industry was critical, and voiced hope that manufacturers and the Agriculture Ministry would accept their terms and that a solution would be found so that the delivery suspension did not go on for too long.
Farmers decided at a meeting on Sunday to stop delivering milk to manufacturers.
The Agriculture Ministry on Monday once again urged farmers not to stop deliveries as this would just deteriorate the situation to the detriment of the milk industry. A meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday when a milk code should be presented.
The Ministry released a press statement on Monday in which it says that the ministry was intensively preparing measures for the cattle sector including two remaining milk installments for 2012 as a form of advance subsidy payment as well as a package of measures in cooperation with the Croatian Bank of Reconstruction and Development (HBOR) relating to a loans moratorium.