Milk campaign: This special task force is supposed to counter the vegan hype

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Humans need milk, preferably a lot - in earlier times of malnutrition this was considered an irrefutable wisdom.

“It's all in the milk”, this simple saying was enough as a slogan even at the turn of the millennium.

Today the white liquid is highly controversial.

Milk opponents attribute acne, intestinal problems, lactose intolerance and worse to her.

Even if the vast majority of consumers do not follow extreme statements - uncertainty is growing.

The image of milk is tarnished.

Now the dairy industry is opposing it with an industry-wide campaign.

“We want to establish good, modern communication about milk,” said Eckhard Heuser, General Manager of the Milk Industry Association (MIV) on Tuesday.

The aim is to put milk back in front of the public eye, "and not pea drinks and oat sauces".

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Vegan milk substitute products currently only have a small market share of an estimated two to three percent, but they are achieving high growth rates, analogous to the development in meat.

The world market of last 16.8 billion dollars (2019) will roughly double to around 28.7 billion euros by the end of the decade, according to a forecast by the market observation company Future Market Insights.

The advertising campaign for milk is scheduled to start in February.

A company for the implementation is being founded, said Heuser.

It is carried by the MIV together with the Raiffeisen Association and the German Farmers Association.

Up to four million euros budget

A manager will be chosen in the next few days.

The branch is supported by the Fischer Appelt agency.

The budget is initially 3.5 to four million euros a year, financed by a levy of 0.15 euros per ton of processed milk.

According to Heuser, the vast majority of dairies are taking part in the campaign - but not all.

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A number of dairies have at least picked up the trend towards pea drink and oat sauce themselves, are bringing such products onto the market or are pursuing corresponding plans.

“We don't want to demonize vegan drinks,” said Heuser, “we just want proper communication.”

Milk is a valuable food.

One gram of protein can be produced three times cheaper than in the vegan area.

“We have to educate people about how good we are and not point the finger at others and say how bad they are.

But that is what the vegans are currently doing by ranting about the milk, ”said Heuser.

Expensive commercials are not planned in view of the limited budget, rather the money will flow into social media, among other things.

One of the most important target groups targeted are young families.

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The dairy industry started the new year with limited optimism.

Provided that the implementation of the Brexit regulations and the course of the corona pandemic did not hold any nasty surprises in store, 2021 could be a good dairy year, according to the association.

Difficult year

However, the past twelve months had plenty of unexpected things to offer.

“A year ago the world was looking rosy,” MIV chairman Peter Stahl looked back, “but Corona shook the markets upside down.” Because restaurants, hotels and canteens were closed for months, sales of dairy products via this distribution channel fell.

At the same time, more was sold through supermarkets and discounters.

The industry has proven itself when there was “extreme hamster purchases” of long-life foods such as long-life milk in retail outlets from mid-March.

"Drinking milk has become a symbol of an important foodstuff for consumers, completely contrary to the trend of recent years," said the association.

With the beginning of the second wave of closings, consumers reacted more calmly in view of their experience with the functioning replenishment, said Stahl.

There were largely fewer hamster purchases in autumn.

The hopes of the dairy farmers from rising producer prices that prevailed at the beginning of the year, however, were not fulfilled.

Instead, the average previous year's price of 33.7 cents for a kilo of raw milk should have been slightly below.

Against the background of the market turbulence, however, this result proves a “solid and successful milk marketing in a difficult market environment”, asserts the MIV.

According to Stahl, no sustainable increase in producer prices is to be expected in the near future either.

This is indicated by the price development in the USA and New Zealand, from which Europe will not be able to completely decouple.

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Source: WELT / Erdmann Hummel

The MIV has little understanding for dairy farmers who are dissatisfied with the producer price and who repeatedly want to force traders to better conditions by blocking distribution centers.

"We stand by the side of the milk producers," Heuser assured, "but blockades are not a suitable means of enforcing interests".

The dairy farmers also know that just 30 percent of sales are made in the German food trade.

The industry generates around 50 percent of its sales in foreign business, and another 20 percent with processors such as manufacturers of baby food or baked goods.