Milk is a fundamental constituent of the basic diet for a family, and therefore essential to guarantee the right to food. In Southern countries such as Colombia, Peru and Central American countries it is furthermore the basis of the rural family sustenance.
This paper addresses the subject in three parts: fi rstsome general information on dairy production and trade, secondly the results of the negotiations and the possible impacts, and finally a number of conclusions.
The world dairy market is heavily distorted due to the overproduction of developed countries with a strongly subsidized dairy sector. The surplus production and its subsequent distribution on the international market at prices inferior to its production costs yields serious circumstances. Indeed, it creates unfair competition which causes a displacement of domestic markets and strongly affects producers and consumers in developing countries, thereby endangering the sustainability of those countries’ dairy sector.
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