Evaluierung der Lieferbeziehungen zwischen milcherzeugenden Betrieben und Molkereien

This working paper was prepared as a report for the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture. The content of the paper is to present the current state of affairs and development trends of the regulations on prices in the supply relationships for milk-producing farms and the first receiving hand, i.e. the dairies. The aim is to identify possible levers that could help to shape pricing more in the interest of milk producers. The question of how, against this background, examples of rules for an application of Article 148 (4) of the CMO in conformity with EU law could look was not addressed for the time being. This working paper is essentially divided into three parts. The first part describes the initial situation in the form of a classification of the current situation of supplier relations and possible requirements for action from a scientific point of view. The second part presents the methodology, the concept and the results of the interviews with experts of the dairy industry. In the third part, the findings from the more theoretical approach of the first part are combined with the results of the interviews of the second part and conclusions for possible recommendations for action are derived. The background information and the interviews conducted provide an initial overview of the supply relationships between milk producers and dairies in Germany. Furthermore, the results show differences and overlaps between the supply relationships of private and cooperative dairies with their milk producers. In order to be able to better classify the results for the entire dairy sector and to include the individual opinions, ideas and suggestions in the discussion, further interviews should be conducted with other groups of experts. These include associations, representatives of the German retail trade and milk producers of different sizes.