Dutch cheese warehouses overflowing as prices fall

Dutch dairy companies are stockpiling cheese because low milk prices since the abolition of quotas have hit cheese prices as well, the Financieele Dagblad says on Thursday.

Cheese exporter association Gestam completed a new warehouse last year, increasing storage capacity from 500 tonnes to 800 tonnes. That, too, is now full, the FD says.

The cheese is would appear to be being stockpiled as producers speculate on higher prices, the FD quotes a spokesman for dairy organisation GemZu as saying.

European milk quotas were abolished on April 1, freeing up farmers to produce as much milk as they like. Now a kilo of Edam cheese is fetching between €2.10 and €2.30 at the Hamburg cheese auction, well below the normal price of around €3.

In addition, cheese exporters have been hit by lower than expected demand from China and Russia. Despite this, new markets have been found in the US, Mexico and South Korea so cheese exports overall remained stable in the first quarter, the FD says.