The milk year starts in Berlin

Sossna’s Diary – what´s that you ask? Well the clue’s in the name: Roland Sossna, editor of the trade journals Molkerei-Industrie and IDM International Dairy Magazine, writes here about his experiences in the milk sector. Every four weeks he tells it as it is. If you ever wanted to know what’s really happening behind the scenes in the milk sector, then read Sossna’s Diary!

The milk year starts in Berlin

As always, the year started in Berlin for the milk sector. The Milchindustrie-Verband, Germany´s dairy milk industry association, held its annual get-together in the capital on January 18 and 19.

Roland Sossna at the Milk Summit in Berlin

Traditionally this is the first ‘Milk Summit’ of the year, the place where the movers and the shakers in the business come together. So it’s always a good sounding board for what the industry can expect over the next 12 months. And the general mood is anything but upbeat. The milk princes (and barons) are—unusually—uncertain and visibly concerned about the current situation on the market. And that includes the VIPs.

Was Theo Müller – owner of the Müller empire – there out of sheer boredom, or was he hoping to glean from this event some information to help him pilot his milk empire? Neither nor, I think. Unless your name is Theo Müller, you come here because you want to talk shop, to sound out colleagues to see if you are on the right track with your own strategy.

Whatever the case, I was also there because I wanted to hear the latest and because, as ever, I want to be sure that what I write really does reflect the reality in this sector. Well, it seems you can rest assured, Sossna is perhaps not so far off in his comments as some would perhaps think. So, all’s well, we’re on track for the new Milk Year!

Best regards

Roland Sossna