The government must find a way to enable farmers to directly sell milk to consumers in order to break up the manufacturers' monopoly, association president Mato Mlinaric said in a statement.
He described the dairy industry situation in Croatia as grotesque. According to him, Croatia is saying that it has surplus milk and that it is cheap to produce, while at the same time raising the price of dairy products in retail chains. He said the farmers' price of milk was dropping by the day.
Jakovina said on Saturday that his ministry did not define prices of milk and dairy products but was hopeful that the price increase proposed by dairy plants due to business difficulties included a higher purchase price of milk from farmers. He said milk had been sold cheaply in large retail chains for years, causing losses to the food industry.