The Minister of agriculture of Lithuania baltraytene Virginia March 16, participated in took place in Brussels the Council meeting on agriculture and fisheries, where one of the main issues was "the Dairy sector: the market situation, trends and measures of the EU", REGNUM was informed in the Ministry of agriculture of Lithuania.

In 2014, the situation of the dairy sector than once was actively discussed during the meetings of the Special Committee on agriculture and the Council, were searched for solutions on how to improve. The Minister of agriculture noted that the situation in the dairy market of Lithuania remains tense. The average purchase price of milk in Lithuania is about 22 cents per litre of milk, this is one of the lowest prices in the EU, meanwhile, the average price in the EU is 32 cents per litre of milk. The purchase price for milk for some dairy farms in Lithuania reduced to 12-15 cents per litre of milk.

"We are grateful to the Commission for aid already committed to dairy producers who suffered losses due to the Russian embargo on the import of products. Unfortunately, it is insufficient to stabilize milk producers. Such low purchasing prices for milk do not cover the costs of milk production and lead to the disappearance of the dairy sector of Lithuania. During the year the number of farmers who bred cows, decreased by 6.7%. Some farms were particularly disadvantaged because they have obligations to banks, and they can't execute them. I think this is a long negative impact of the Russian embargo. The measures taken by the organization of the market did not give the expected result for the stabilization of the market. Therefore, Lithuania will ask the European Commission to allocate additional assistance from the EU budget to support Lithuanian milk producers", - said Maltraitance.