Farmers hit by cut in milk purchases by dairies Farmers are facing a hard time as milk companies in Vietnam set quotas on the amount of milk they will buy, creating a market glut.  Many households in Tu Tra and Da Ron communes in Lam Dong Province resorted to pouring away fresh milk outside Dat Lat Milk Joint Stock Company (Dalat Milk) to oppose its new purchasing policy.  Vietnamese farmers hit by cut in milk purchases by dairies   Farmers say Dalat Milk will only buy the equivalent of 16kg of milk per cow, while the daily average output per cow is 20-25 kg a day. This has caused a milk glut and farmers are unable to find new markets. In Hanoi, farmers in Phu Dong Commune, Gia Lam District denounced IDP Company for a sudden and dramatic cut in its purchases of milk. Tong Xuan Trinh, Deputy the head of the Animal Husbandry Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that local authorities had intervened and IDP agreed to buy more fresh milk from farmers. Farmers say companies were not complying with contracts. But Ngo Minh Hai, general director of Dalat Milk, said milk output has expanded beyond the company’s processing demand, so purchases have had to be restricted. Hai said restrictions were aimed at curbing the practice of farmers exploiting contracts by buying up milk from other producers and reselling it to the company at a higher price. However, one expert said milk output in 2014 was almost unchanged from 2013, and  companies were cutting purchases of fresh milk so they can import cheaper powdered milk from foreign countries for reprocessing into liquid milk products. Trinh said milk prices on world markets have dropped 60-70 percent, and many companies were importing foreign powdered milk to remain competitive. Vietnam spends some USD1 billion to import milk a year. The figure was USD1.09 billion in 2014. The country has a goal to reach local fresh milk output of one million tonnes by 2020, or 50 percent of the local demand. Trinh said that it is only fair companies decide how and where to source milk for their production. Management companies are only responsible for checking product quality and that it meets stated specifications. He said the government should revise dairy development policy to encourage companies to join hands with farmers for produce fresh milk or allow farmers to engage in self-production. Farmers are reluctant to bend existing contracts in the interests of maintaining long-term business relationships. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development recently ordered local departments to ensure dairy companies honour contracts. Dau Tu