In a statement, the direction of Aprolep says it continues without "any public response" from the distribution chains that sell the milk to the consumer.

“On the contrary, Lidl supermarkets have just announced a promotion with private label milk at 42 cents, which corresponds to 39.6 cents plus VAT. An absurd price. A lack of respect for the producers”, he says.

On August 25, a few hundred producers gathered in Ribeirão, in the district of Braga, to denounce the “unsustainable prices” that the sector is receiving for its activity.

The initiative included a tour of several commercial areas of Trofa, in the Porto district, where the demonstrators, in their tractors and dressed in black, deposited boxes symbolizing funeral coffins, as a warning to the “death of the sector”.

At the site, the president of Aprolep , Jorge Oliveira, recalled that the national average paid to farmers per liter of milk is around 30 cents, but that, for the farms to be sustainable, producers needed to receive at least between 35 and 36 cents.

Making the situation worse for producers is the increase in production costs, namely, the values ​​of animal feed, which, since the beginning of this year, have risen by around 30%.

Today, in a statement, the association claims that it is time for the Minister of Agriculture, Maria do Céu Antunes, to “listen and respond” to the difficulties of national producers.

"It is time for the minister to commit to and promote an agreement for a new attitude between the industry and distribution that saves milk production in Portugal", they argue, adding that national producers have been receiving "the worst price of milk" for months. among the 27 countries of the European Union, namely, six cents below the Community average.

“It is time to publicly support our fight for the valorization of milk and for a fair distribution of value along the chain between distribution, industry and production”, he appeals.

Considering it “revolting to continue to witness this destruction of the value of milk”, the direction of Aprolep says that, as long as distribution “does not change its attitude”, it will continue to publicly denounce the situation outside supermarkets.

“With or without prior notice, in many possible ways, we are the ones who suffer from the miracle of low prices all year round,” he adds.

The Minister of Agriculture is presiding this morning at the meeting of milk production “No Coração do Leite”, which takes place in Póvoa do Varzim, Porto district, and is promoted by the administration of AGROS – Union of Cooperatives of Milk Producers of Entre Douro e Minho and Trás-os-Montes.