On May 5, 2020 the BC government announced a 5-phase plan to open BC’s economic activity. BC is currently working through stage 3 of this plan and is experiencing some challenges as the warm summer weather emerges. All social, economic and recreational spaces are cautiously re-opening however the process has been slow and therefore the recovery to dairy sales has been slow and steady.
Over the past 12 weeks the BC Milk Board (the Board) has been actively working with the Western Milk Pool (WMP) and processors across the west to determine changes in market demand as the HRI (hotel/restaurant industry) stabilizes.
The Board will continue with August production to daily quota plus 1 day with the goal of allowing additional production in September and October if demand increases. Currently we are meeting all market demand and have a surplus of milk in western Canada to support immediate processor demand increases.
Conventional Producers: Daily Quota plus 1 day
There is currently no change for August 2020 production. Producers should continue to produce their daily quota plus 1 day. Producers can conduct credit transfers but will only be allowed to produce credits up to plus 1 day.
Please note that it is your responsibility to ensure if credits are purchased that you do not put yourself in a position where they are lost. Please see the example below and contact the quota team if you have any questions.
For example
- CDQ: 200 kgs
- Ship Days: 30 + plus 1 day
- Credit Start Position: +5 Days Over
Producer BUYS 600 credits (3 days) and their adjusted credit start position is now +2 days over
- The producer overproduces by 3 days
- The Producer will be paid for 31 days (30 + 1)
- The producer will use the 600 credits (3 days) but will only be paid for 1 day
- To clarify, the producer’s current month end position is now +5 days over and the Producer has lost 400 credits of the 600 credits they just bought.
Incentive Days – No announcement
Due to continued uncertainty and unknown demand, the Board has not yet announced whether there will be any fall incentive days this year. The Board will primarily seek to move producers to full production availability (+5/-15 days) before issuing incentive days. The Board will monitor the situation closely and provide updates to the industry as necessary.
We appreciate your patience regarding production direction.