'Stable and transparent milk price' project gets off the ground
Colruyt Group started a partnership with dairy business Inex to offer dairy farmers a steady market and greater income security. The project will now take off for real: 330 dairy farmers affiliated to Inex signed up to the proposal that the two partners presented to them in February. Starting from April 2020, when the first Boni Selection products from this project go on sale in Colruyt Group stores, the dairy farmers will receive a stable milk price of 34.76 cents per litre for a specific percentage of their production for five years.
30 million litres of milk
On 21 February 2019, the dairy farmers affiliated to Inex all received the same proposal to join a partnership between Colruyt Group and Inex. They were then given until 1 April to consider the proposal. 330 dairy farmers signed up; enough to effectively get the project off the ground and to jointly cover the required volume of 30 million litres of milk, an important part of Colruyt Group’s total milk volume.
Next steps: towards a new range in 2020
All the parties involved are now working to move things forward. Inex will invest in a new state-of-the-art production line to handle the increased volumes and both partners will be working on new packaging and labels for this new range of Boni Selection products over the coming months, so that they are clearly marked for customers to see. This will involve around ten milk products, including Boni Selection skimmed, low-fat and whole milk (50 cl and 1 L), as well as Boni Selection Cream.
New milestone in our agricultural policy
This initiative fits in with our ambition to keep supply in Belgium as much as possible and to support local farmers. Stefan Goethaert: "A transparent, stable milk price makes short shrift of price fluctuations Belgian dairy farmers often have to cope with. In this way, we contribute to a sustainable business model that provides added value to all players in the chain." Over the past few years, Colruyt Group already support the Belgian agricultural sector on several occasions. For instance, we participated in the support mechanisms for milk (2015) and pork (2016), and we started collaboration projects with several partners in the fruit, pork and organic vegetables sector.
Stable price for 5 years
Colruyt Group and its Belgian partner Inex did a lot of research to determine the stable milk price. "We are convinced that the stable price of 34.76 cents/litre will offer dairy farmers greater income security and enable them to invest in sustainable growth", says Stefan Goethaert, General manager Fine Food en retail services, and responsible for the group’s agricultural policy. The price will remain constant for five years for all participating dairy farmers. This price is also independent of the sales prices in the stores, which will continue to follow the prices of our competitors.
With this initiative, we contribute to the following Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.
