5,000 tons of French cheese are at risk of going to waste amid the coronavirus pandemic as demand sinks

• French dairy farmers are dealing with a surplus of cheese because demand dropped nearly 60% during the pandemic.
• Now, 5,000 tons of cheese are at risk of being wasted.
• The EU and dairy farmers are at odds when it comes to finding solutions to the market imbalance. The EU is paying framers to store the cheese, but framers want to be paid to reduce production instead.
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France, a country rich with dairy farmers known for their high-quality cheese production, is now facing issues with the cheese market during the coronavirus pandemic.

Cheese sales dropped nearly 60% percent during the pandemic because of restaurant closures, shrinking international trade, and people buying less top-dollar cheeses, according to a France Terre de Lait, the French dairy industry.

But as the market goes haywire from plummeting demand, European milk producers at the apex of their seasonal production are struggling to handle issues with the market, and risk wasting a 5,000 ton surplus of cheese, according to a report by Politico.

"There are producers experiencing drops in prices that are catastrophic," Michel Lacoste, president of the National Council of Appellations of Dairy Origin, a group for producers that ensures the standards for the EU's exclusive geographical indication label, told Politico.

Producers have already disposed of 1,000 tons of cheese either giving it away, destroying it, or melting it down to make lesser quality cheeses, the report said. And with 1,000 more tons on back-log, French dairy farmers are urging the EU to pay producers to lessen production.

The EU's approach has been instead to pay farmers to store more than 18,000 tons of cheese during the pandemic, Politico reported.

But producers argue that hoarding the cheese until it can be sold will overwhelm the market once released thus driving down prices and crippling farmer's wallets, according to Politico.

That's why some farmers, as well as The European Milk Board lobby, are coordinating protests that abide by the country's lockdown measures by spreading milk powder throughout the fields Thursday.

France Terre de Lait is trying to attack the issue by sparking more cheese sales with a new campaign called "Fromagissons," which means "Let's act for cheese," in an effort to get more French citizens to buy cheese.

But the clock is ticking, as 1,500 tons could go bad if not distributed by May 11.

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