Paris, Sept 18 - French dairy farmers dumped millions of litres of milk in fields on Friday as they intensified a week-old strike against depressed dairy prices.
Striking producers, who have been refusing to deliver milk in an attempt to pressure the European Union to overhaul dairy market regulation, poured away 12 million litres of milk, dairy farmers group OPL said.
In a protest near the fortified island of Mont-Saint-Michel in northwest France, nearly 300 tractors towed milk tanks spraying milk across open fields.
In the southwest, 250 out of 400 producers in the Lot-et-Garonne department dumped 300,000 litres of milk in a field at Saint-Pastour, said Didier Galinou of farm union Coordination Rurale.
"It's a powerful movement. We won't stop our actions until negotiations at European level have delivered," he told reporters.
The movement has spread to other European countries under the aegis of the European Milk Board (EMB), with large-scale dumping of milk in Belgium in particular. [ID:nLF358598]
However, the strike's impact has been played down by French authorities and the main farm union, FNSEA, which opposes it.
Agriculture Minister Bruno Le Maire said deliveries to dairies had fallen by only 10 percent and that the sector was not facing any supply difficulties.
EU DAIRY REGULATION
After announcing 30 million euros in aid this week to help the worst-off livestock farmers, the minister said he would meet with banks and insurers on Monday to discuss further financial relief for dairy producers.
The minister and different farmer groups have criticised the liberalisation of the EU's milk regime, under which production quotas have increased in preparation for their planned abolition in 2015.
But while the government and the FNSEA are in favour of developing contracts between dairy producers and manufacturers, the groups leading the French strike reject this approach and are seeking a pan-European agency to regulate supply and demand. In the short term, protesting farmers are calling for a cut in the EU's milk quotas to help boost prices back up to 40 euro cents a litre, a level they say is needed to cover costs and provide a basic income.
After a price spike in 2007, global dairy markets have declined sharply, with European producer prices falling to lows of about 20 euro cents ($0.30) per litre this year.
The European Commission has approved an increase in the ceiling for state aid to farmers and has said it will consider medium-term measures like developing supply contracts and a futures market.