Finance.si, 16 December 2025
Cows do not pay attention to market signals – Europe faces milk oversupply. Although signs of a dairy industry crisis have been emerging since this past summer, Planika Dairy in Kobarid will proceed with its planned investment programme. This week the company is launching its upgraded butter-making facility, and next year it plans a more extensive modernisation at its Bogata estate in Bovec, alongside digitalisation of production and development of new products.
The upgraded butter plant, financed entirely from the company’s own funds and costing €400,000, has achieved full automation and will reduce the influence of human error on the final product. Director Miran Božič emphasised that customers will not notice changes in product design or quality, and that traditional production methods remain central to the company’s approach.
Planika purchases around 7 million litres of milk a year from farms located in mountainous and hilly regions around Kobarid. The company plans to apply next year for funding under the IRP02 and IRP29 programmes, which would support investments in farm adaptation to higher animal welfare standards. If successful, Planika will modernise the Bogata estate, which supplies its organic milk. The estate also has 140 dairy cows and manages 104 hectares of meadows and fields on lease from the Slovenian Agricultural Land Fund and local landowners who have ceased farming.
Photo: Mlekarna Planika Archive – traditional alpine dairy production
Planika also intends to implement the IFS standard, a challenge until now due to the age of some buildings, and to accelerate digitalisation throughout production. He underlined that the company knows modern consumers well and will continue to respond to their needs using local raw materials.
Looking ahead to 2026, Božič described the situation as demanding. Milk supply in Europe currently exceeds industrial processing needs, and Slovenia exports around 30 per cent of its milk to Italy and Croatia. Early last year, high milk prices encouraged farmers to increase production. Since then, however, trends have reversed. Reduced demand, partly due to US tariffs affecting Italian cheese exports and weak overall European markets, is pushing the sector towards a challenging year.
“Cows do not pay attention to market developments — they must be milked. We will continue to purchase milk,” Božič said. “We will have to adjust both input and output sides of dairy operations to market conditions and work together with producers to get through the crisis that is ahead.”
Disclaimer
This is an English translation of the original article published in Slovenian by Finance.si. The translation is provided for information purposes only. In case of discrepancies, the original Slovenian version prevails.
Read the original article here:
https://www.finance.si/miran-bozic-mlekarna-planika-nova-mlekarska-kriza-je-pred-vrati/a/9042088
