Poland gears up

POLAND – Poland’s dairy industry has reacted to unexpectedly high demand for its milk and milk products from other EU countries by modernising at record speed.

The latest information from the Polish Ministry of Agriculture claims that nearly 200 of Poland’s 400 commercially viable milk plants have increased production and been awarded EU export accreditation in the last two years.

Western demand has surprised market planners – in the first half of 2004, Polish milk exports increased by 70%, and two-thirds of the shipments ended up in other EU countries, fetching prices around a third higher than on the domestic market.