Milk Market Observatory proves its value

In the light of the end of the EU quota regime, the need for a better market transparency on the dairy markets in Europe and for an enhanced market intelligence of the EU Commission was voiced in 2013.

With the creation of the MMO as an information exchange platform that involves all stakeholders in the EU dairy sector, the EU Commission very quickly responded to this need. Launched on April 16th, 2014, the MMO has been very active in the field of analysis and statistics in the dairy sector as well as in the dissemination of all relevant data (volumes, prices, EU imports & exports, etc.) among all actors in the dairy chain.

Monitoring dairy markets

“Via the Milk Market Observatory, the EU Commission has significantly improved its capacities in terms of market monitoring and in terms of communication. Go to the MMO website and you get a really good picture of the dairy markets today,” states Alexander Anton, Secretary General of the European Dairy Association (EDA), a member of the economic board of the MMO.

Ways to further improve the MMO

From the launch of the MMO onwards, EDA has always supported this initiative, as transparency and short-term analysis of the markets are essential and necessary, especially in the context of the major changes taking place in the dairy sector.

EDA congratulates the EU Commission for the big steps achieved within the first year by the MMO, particularly within the last few months: the extraordinary meeting scheduled for the end of April for a first exchange on the milk markets of the new, quota free era underlines the new, pro-active approach of the EU Commission.

For the future, the MMO will for sure need to become even more market-linked: the EU Member States have to fully play their role in providing the national milk market data ‘in real time’ to the EU Commission. The competent services of DG AGRI will also need to assess the possibilities to integrate more and more global and actual dairy market information into their work.

Follow dairy trends

With this tool producers and processors alike can continue to follow trends and adapt business decisions so that supply and demand can be aligned ensuring long-term sustainability.