How far is feta from becoming parmesan?

By Giorgos Lampiris

The recent rise in the price of feta in Greek refrigerators and internationally has brought new data for the entire supply chain. Expensive animal feed played a decisive role in this development, the price of which plays a dominant role in the evolution of the cost of the final product. The reason is that the basic raw materials of the animal feed are cereals and seeds, a significant percentage of which also come from Ukraine, one of the largest suppliers of these raw materials for Europe.

The recent agreement between Russia and Ukraine, which reopens the ports of Ukraine and allows the movement of these raw materials, could work in the long term positively in terms of initially reducing their prices and, by extension, as a factor limiting the costs that it is linked to the feed and feeding of the herds by the breeders, the price in milk and in conclusion the final product called feta.

In Greece, the price of feta cheese has increased by at least 30% compared to a year ago in supermarket refrigerators, with the net price that the chains buy from the dairy industry, the national cheese of Greece, ranging for the packaged between 7, 8 to 8.1 euros per kilo, while the price for the bulk feta cut at the cheese counter is about 20% (6.5-7.3 euros per kilo) lower than the packaged one. The net prices mentioned above depend, however, on the individual agreements of the production industries with the supermarket chains and are essentially the wholesale prices.

All of the above is happening at a time when, in the Greek market, it is only a matter of time before the finalization of the contracts of the dairy industry with the local farmers nationwide for the supply of goat and sheep milk, with the average market price per kilogram of sheep milk, which is the basic raw material of feta, to it currently moves to 1.30 euros. At the same time, it is estimated by executives of the dairy industry that with the new contracts, the maximum price can reach 1.45 euros.

The example of Pecorino Romano and Parmesan Reggiano

At the same time, traditional Italian products such as Pecorino Romano or Parmesan Reggiano register a wholesale price of around 11 euros per kilo, also affected recently by the increase in their production costs. In any case, if the estimates are confirmed and the rate of increase in the price of milk reaches the aforementioned 12%, it is not impossible to see the wholesale price of the packaged feta reach and in some cases even exceed 9 euros. The distance, however, that so far separates the feta from the two Italian cheeses, all Protected Designation of Origin, seems to be quite far. However, the new data on the prices expected through the new contracts with the farmers in a few days from today, could change and in fact reduce the price distance that separates the feta slice from Pecorino Romano and Parmesan Reggiano.

Effects of milk imports

At the same time, however, sources with thorough knowledge of the market state that despite the fact that recently the phenomena of sheep milk imports for use in the production of feta had been limited, due to the tightening of legislation and controls since the time he was minister Makis Voridis, have now begun to come back to the fore. The main reason for the strengthening of movements of this type seems to be the lack of quantities of sheep’s milk from the breeders, where in several cases there are phenomena of malnutrition of the herds due to the high prices of animal feed but also the slaughter of herds with this meat being taken to the showcases of the butchers .

In any case, however, the cheaper imported milk is for some, according to the same sources, a strong incentive compared to the more expensive Greek milk. The main source of import seems to be Italy, according to those sources who are close to the Greek dairy industry, while they also maintain an institutional role in the Interprofessional Organization of Feta.

The price of imported – mainly from Sardinia – sheep’s milk ranges from 1.15 to 1.20 per kilo, including transport costs, compared to Greek milk with an average price of 1.30 euros per kilo. The president of the Federation of Cattle Breeders and Cattle Breeding Associations of Thessaly, Yiannis Gourobinos, recently cited related complaints about milk imports from Italy.