Government and producers divided over increased milk quotas

The milk quota that was negotiated in Copenhagen will assure Poland self-sufficiency, according to the government. However, milk producers think that in a few years the country might be forced to import up to 3.8 million tonnes of milk. The Agriculture Minister, Jaroslaw Kalinowski, considered the increase of milk limits a priority, while for the fifteen member states any change in this sphere was unacceptable. Nonetheless, the government managed to increase the wholesale milk quota by 1.5 million tonnes. "'The Danes proposed 7 million tonnes which farmers would produce and sell to milk factories for processing. Today we process 7.4 million tonnes and would be forced to reduce production. They offered 2 million tonnes for direct sale, which would mean only an insignificant change in figures, that is why we attempted to increase these amounts in wholesale quotas," said Kalinowski. Milk producers estimate that the 8.5 million tonnes that was settled on in Copenhagen will at the very most assure stagnation during the first couple of months of membership, that is if consumption does not rise. (Puls Biznesu, p. 5) A.C.