Milk farmers want Dukat to withdraw its offer for the purchase price of milk for February in the amount of HRK 2.30 per litre and demand that the average purchase price of milk be the same as in the EU, said the president of the Croatian Federation of Milk Farmers Associations (HSUPM), Igor Resetar.

"We want a fair milk price, which is the average milk price in the EU. We will not accept any 'Balkan associations' or milk prices from eastern countries which do not have such a system of control as exists in Croatia," said Resetar.

The protests will last throughout the day both in Zagreb and in Bjelovar, and if no agreement is reached, farmers will arrive in Zagreb on their tractors on Thursday, Resetar said.

HSUPM vice-president Mladen Solcic said that between 300 and 400 protesters on 150 tractors were protesting outside Sirela in Bjelovar, and that more milk farmers were arriving at the protest site.

Solcic said the protest would last until the milk price issue was settled.

If no agreement is reached at a meeting of the Council for the Dairy Industry at the Agriculture Ministry on Wednesday, the protests will continue, Solcic said.

Milk farmers accuse Dukat of terminating a tripartite agreement on the purchase price of milk in early February, under which the purchase price of milk was determined in line with the average purchase price of milk in the EU in the previous three months.

Dukat's offer of HRK 2.30 per litre of milk for February is around HRK 0.40 lower than the previous price.

Resetar said Dukat's conduct was detrimental to domestic milk farmers and favoured import lobby groups.

The leader of the association of cattle breeders and milk farmers "Bilogora", Mirjana Pirsa, said the price offered by Dukat meant the shutting down of family farms.

The HSUPM brings together 20 associations with close to 5,000 raw milk farmers.

More than 14,500 farmers and members of their families in Croatia make a living by producing raw milk.