Asphyxiated dairy: all the news on Liberte-algerie.com
The frost, since September 9, of imports of the milk powder put the transformers in front of a complicated situation.Disturbances in production will, necessarily, cause serious repercussions on the supply of dairy products on the market.The CIPA calls on the authorities to act before it is too late.
Dairy owners threaten to close their factories from December 31.They can no longer maintain their production because of their untenable financial situation.No longer able to cope with the vertiginous increase in raw material prices, especially milk powder, these companies are on the verge of asphyxiation.
These business leaders sound the alarm and appeal to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in order to find emergency solutions.Otherwise, they will undoubtedly opt for the cessation of their activities, with all the socioeconomic benefits which will result from it, including the unemployment of 70,000 workers.
"The decision of the public authorities to maintain the support of pasteurized milk in sachet at the price of 25 DA is acceptable as long as they meet the support of prices upstream of production, which continues to increase," said the president ofThe Confederation of Algerian industrialists and producers (CIPA), AbdelwahabZiani.
Indeed, raw materials are experiencing an uninterrupted increase in international markets.This is the case of the milk powder displayed at 600 da per kilo just three months ago and which is around 800 DA.These are in fact the remaining quantities of imports carried out by private operators before the decision of health derogations is established by the Ministry of Agriculture.Ditto for the plastic bag with which is packaged pasteurized milk (LPC) subsidized at 25 DA, previously sold to 1 DA and which increased to more than 3 Da.
With the increase in all inputs, the real cost of the LPC of one liter is estimated at 31 DA.However, it must leave the factory at 23.35 DA to be sold at 25 DA.“Who will pay this differential?Who will endure all these increases? »wonders m.Ziani.The dairy can no longer continue to produce.
For more than six months, they have been working at a loss.Their stocks in raw materials are exhausted.Their owners are aware of the obligation to put sufficient quantities of milk on the market for the consumption of populations.However, this change in price structures has seriously shaken them.
By the end of the month, dairies will no longer have a resource to supplied milk powder and other inputs in order to be able to produce.Because they have suffered a lot of losses and are likely to go bankrupt.The three large factories that make the milk in tetrapack have accused the blow.If Soummam turns less than 50%, of its capacities, its neighbor, Candia, has completely stopped production.
Facts that run 50%, others have closed these disruptions in production will necessarily have repercussions on the supply of dairy products on the market.The risk of a shortage of these food products, especially in the month of next Ramadan, is very real.
The lack of UHT milk (tetrapack) already begins to be felt on the stalls, indicates the manager of a dairy located in Sétif, during a meeting which gathered on Thursday the members of the Confederation.For this, solutions must be found and implemented immediately in order to avoid any stop of production.
"A week ago, we got attached to the Minister of Agriculture.We proposed to him that all the actors in the sector are going around a table to deal with this problem and to think deeply on lasting solutions and that arrange everyone, »says the president of the CIPA."We will suggest, during a next meeting, solutions by showing them the real cost price of the liter of milk in sachets in producers.»
Outre cette solution, AbdelwahabZiani insiste sur la libération des dérogations sanitaires qui interdisent toute importation de poudre de lait.He specifies that health derogations have been frozen since September 9. En dépit de l'annonce faite par le ministre de tutelle ayant trait à la levée du gel à partir de dimanche dernier, “les services concernés par l'application de cette mesure de dégel, affirment ne pas avoir reçu d’instruction dans ce sens», regrette-t-il.
However, the period of importing of a commodity from New Zealand, for example, is evaluated at three months.“We have already lost a month and a half.A month old of 2022 and the goods will therefore not be able to arrive before next March. Entre-temps, les producteurs ont épuisé tous leurs stocks», constate M.Ziani.
“Les laiteries doivent s'approvisionner en matière première, faute de quoi, elles seront obligées d'arrêter leurs activités», souligne, de son côté, le représentant de la société Soummam.
"If the public authorities do not take into account our grievances quickly, we will witness by next March, an inevitable rupture of dairy products on the market. La situation sera encore plus délicate car notre entreprise approvisionne, outre les commerçants, les écoles, les hôpitaux, les casernes et autres institutions», avertit ce cadre.
“Pourquoi ont-ils gelé les dérogations d’importation ? Appréhendent-ils les transferts illicites de devises à travers ces opérations ?» se demande, pour sa part, le patron de l’usine de Draâ Ben Khedda.
Risk of shortage of dairy products very much aware of the milk and end -connoisseur of the profession, it supports a bite that the use of raw milk in the production of subsidized milk is not appropriate for the moment.
“The players in the sector are not yet ready for such an option.We regularly experience problems with breeders.The quantities collected are often insufficient... Bref, il faut reconnaître que le pays a échoué dans la politique qu’il a réservée à la filière lait», relève le propriétaire de l’usine de Draâ Ben Khedda, qui demande aux pouvoirs publics de changer le fusil d’épaule et de mettre en œuvre, entre autres décisions, une stratégie propre au développement de la sous-filière lait cru.
Sharing his opinion, producers emphasize the need to invest in dairy cows and the production of livestock food to do without the import of powdered milk.To achieve such a target, the country would have to contain 1.4 million dairy cows when there are only 400,000 today, said M.Ziani.To meet national demand, Algeria resorts to the import of powder.
If we launch investments in the order of $ 500 million in dairy cow farming, we will obtain more than two million animals and we can reach raw raw materials during the next threeyears.
To do this, to do this, more than 250,000 tonnes of cattle food concentrate produced on an irrigated surface of almost 100,000 hectares.This is not yet the case because in 2021, the production of the milk sector exceeded 3.4 billion liters, including only 900 million liters of cow's milk produced locally.
Meanwhile, milk consumption continues to increase in Algeria;It reaches 167 liters/year/inhabitant against a global average of 87 l/year/inhabitant.The CIPA intends to seize the Ministry of Finance next week, in order to examine the possibilities of identifying the necessary funding for these investments.
It is with such prospects that we will develop a local production base that can cover consumption and reduce milk imports.The other solution advocated by the president of the CIPA is to remove the generalized subsidies of milk, to target them and to redirect them towards the poorest.
Badreddine Khris
