Aldi after farmers protest: soon only German milk in German shops

After ongoing farmers' protests, German supermarket chain Aldi says it will only sell German conventional and organic fresh milk in Aldi stores this year.

The group does not want to say that all milk in all shops will already be of German origin, but that it wants to replace as much milk imports as possible with milk from German soil.

Aldi's announcement follows new blockades at distribution centers early this week by German farmers who protested an imminent cut in butter prices. A spokesman for the company declined to say how much milk Aldi currently imports from neighboring countries such as Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria.

The farmers' protests at Aldi branches in Lower Saxony have ended for the time being. “We have made progress in the negotiations with Aldi, at least on butter prices,” said a spokesman. Butter prices are said to be reduced much less than farmers initially feared.

Aldi-Nord announced that the company had assured farmers that it will take measures to improve the situation in German agriculture in the short term. According to all this, Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd only want to source conventional and organic fresh milk from Germany. The company is striving for long-term contracts to provide farmers with better planning security bieden.

The structural challenges can only be solved in collaboration with politicians, the food processing industry such as dairies and consumers, according to Aldi. A national video conference has now been held on January 13 with state politicians, retailers, processors and farmers.