News briefs: milk quotas, Agropur and Unimilk

EU agrees to quota hikes ​​​The EU has agreed to implement a two per cent rise in milk quotas from next month in a bid to alleviate the high prices currently being paid for the product. The new quoatas, which will potentially amount to a total production hike of 2.84m tonnes annually, could help meet growing demand from the bloc's dairy processors. The EU's Milk quota scheme was originally put in place to limit the volume of product supplied in the bloc to drive competitiveness. Current rules would keep the 26-year-old quotas in place until 2015, but the European Commission has said this will be re-visited as part of a dairy market review in 2008. Agropur mulls Canadian expansion ​​ Leading Canada based-dairy cooperative Agropur has announced the acquisition of national rival Laiterie Lamothe for an undisclosed fee. Group chief executive Pierre Claprood said that the newly acquired assets will allow the company to expand its portfolio of dairy goods on offer to consumers. "What's special about Laiterie Lamothe is that it caters to market segments in which we're not active, like organic milk,"​ he stated. "This acquisition will allow us to expand our line of products and to be more active in a region where our presence is less felt." ​ Laiterie Lamothe & Frères Ltée produces a range of quality fresh dairy products, including fluid milk, flavoured milk, Omega-3 enriched milk and organic milk. Unimilk preparing for floatation says report ​​ Russian dairy group Unimilk is hoping to float its operations from 2009 in order to compete with national rivals like Wimm-Bill-Dann, according to news reports. Group general director Andrei Beskhmelnitsky said that he expected an initial public offering (IPO) to take place from the middle next year if the decision received shareholder approval, the Reuters news agency reported. The group is currently estimated to be the second largest dairy group operating in the country, with a 15vper cent market share, according to the report.