Concast Trentingrana had also decided, just in the last few days, to buy milk for Trentino dairies in Alto Adige. An operation considered as damaging to the interests of Latte Trento
The Board of Directors of Latte Trento, a cooperative for the collection and processing of Trentino milk (here for the 2023 vintage), has unanimously decided to abandon Concast-Trentingrana, a second-level consortium to which it belongs. A letter sent via certified email from Latte Trento to the Consortium sets the effective date of the withdrawal at 28 July 2026.
This is the final act of a long period of misunderstanding between the leaders of the two cooperatives on the strategic objectives of the Trentino dairy sector.
A strong signal of contrasts had already arrived a month ago when the representative of Latte Trento during the assembly of the second-level Consortium, had not voted on the budget, providing precise reasons. First of all, because the consortium was liquidating a price that was too low for the Trentingrana that it also marketed on behalf of Latte Trento. This head-on confrontation on the price continued without reaching a compromise.
Concast’s decision to buy milk in Alto Adige
In recent days, the straw that broke the camel’s back arrived: the decision by Concast Trentingrana to buy milk for Trentino dairies in Alto Adige. A choice that, according to Latte Trento, would have competed with the cooperative’s own products, the main member of Concast, which produces about 40% of the milk of the members of the second-level cooperative.
Other reasons for Latte Trento’s decision
Concast has also been criticized by the Trentino cooperative for the disappointing results of a commercial and management policy with significant drops in milk yield.
As the president of Latte Trento recalled, Renato Costa, the cooperative closed its latest balance sheet with record prices, equal to an average of 0.67 euros per liter of milk paid to members, despite the low remuneration of Trentingrana through marketing by Concast.
According to Costa, therefore, there would be a risk of further putting in difficulty the farms already struggling with increasingly high production costs that see, within them, the presence of a young person, as the president of the Breeders’ Federation pointed out, Giacomo Broch.
Comments on the Latte Trento spill
Roberto Simoni of the Federazione Trentina della Cooperazione said he was confident “in the ability of our cooperative system to overcome this difficult moment” and believes that Concast-Trentingrana must “commit to ensuring the well-being of its members and supporting the sustainable development of the territory. But to do so, everyone is needed, no one excluded”.
The Councilor for Cooperation of the Province of Trento Mario Tonina he intends to understand whether there is room for “finding an indispensable agreement for the defense of the sector.”
