s elected r esults o f t he ifcn dairy n etwor K MilK p rices and costs o f MilK p roduction in 2003

Within the IFCN Dairy Network milk prices and costs of milk production have been analysed from 31 countries for the year 2003. A wide diversity of milk prices between the countries could be observed with > 35 US-$/100 kg milk in Switzerland, Norway and Canada and < 15 US-$ in Argentina and Pakistan. Costs of milk production differ significantly between the countries, and within the countries as well. The highest costs of milk production (50 – 60 US$/100 kg milk) are found in Switzerland and on average sized farms in the EU, the lowest costs in Argentina (10 – 15 US-$). For the future, a “world market price for milk,“ which was around 15 – 20 US-$/100 kg milk in 2003, is expected to be higher and might end at around 28 US-$.