Dairy farmers threaten boycott against Aldi

The discount chain cut its butter price on to ten years bottom, two weeks ago decreased the milk price – the German farmers are angry.

About 1,500 farmers in the southern
German state of Baden-Württemberg rallied at midday Wednesday in
Stuttgart to protest the price cuts. The president of the farm
association in that state, Joachim Rukwied, said farmers there refuse
to be shaken down by large grocers who have made deals for lower milk
prices.

"What Aldi and Co. are doing in
their milk price negotiations is like a declaration of war,"
Rukwied was quoted as saying in the German press agency DPA. "We
are ready to fight."

German dairy farmers are ready to halt
milk deliveries as a protest against rapidly sinking dairy prices, a
dairy association officer said. A survey of 33,000 members of the
Association of German Dairy Farmers found that 88 percent of
respondents were ready to halt deliveries if prices continue to sink.
German dairy farmers need to sell their milk for at least 43 cents a
kilogramme to make a profit, according to the association.