The European Milk Board (EMB) has warned that record milk volumes are driving Europe towards "the next price collapse".

The lobby group for European milk producers said that global milk volumes have increased significantly and are continuing to rise.

A recent report from Ornua showed that global milk collections grew by around 4% in January.

Collections across the 27 EU member states were up by around 5.6% in December and by about 4.5% in January.

President of the EMB, Kjartan Poulsen said that this surge in milk supply is "far beyond normal market fluctuations".

"We are currently witnessing developments we have never seen before in this form.

"The signals are clear: if no action is taken now, we are heading straight into a milk price collapse," he added.

Milk

The EMB has reiterated its call on the European Commission to introduce a Voluntary Volume Reduction Scheme.

The organisation claims this is "the key instrument" to stabilise volumes in the short term and prevent a further price collapse.

However, Boris Gondouin, vice-president of the EMB claimed that "several key countries are still blocking decisive action at European level".

The EMB has issued a direct appeal to Germany, France and Denmark in particular.

"These countries must finally take responsibility and clearly support the activation of voluntary volume reduction," Gondouin added.

The EMB asked whether Europe’s dairy farmers still be producing in the years to come, or will they be forced to leave the sector.

"If we take food security in Europe seriously, we must act now to ensure stable producer prices. This means one thing above all: volumes must be reduced," Kjartan Poulsen said.

"Only then can we secure a future for the next generation of farmers.

"An increasing number of farms are already exiting the sector. Young farmers in particular are losing perspective as long as markets remain unstable and prices stay below production costs," he added.