European dairy and MGV exports to West Africa
An investigation by POLITICO found that European dairy exports can cause significant damage to the local dairy sectors across west africa (Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal). They export excess product, as well as "fat filled milk powder" or MGV, which is milk powder created using milk not legal to sell in Europe, enriched with vegetable and palm oil. Europe produced 276,892 tons of it in 2018. It is often so much cheaper than local milk that local milk is simply poured away. European dairy companies can offer such low prices due to EU subsidies, low (5%) import tarriffs, and the efficiency of the European dairy industry (the article mentions that Irish cows often produce 28 litres a day compared to Burkina Faso's 4).
On the other hand, Corniaux et al., 2021 point out that West Africa can only meet half their dairy needs from domestic sources.
An analysis by Corniaux et al., 2021[1] charts this in more detail: MGV exports went from negligible in 2000 to exports worth €819 million to West Africa in 2019, comprising 45% of the region's total dairy product imports. The EU accounted for 77% of West Africa's MGV imports in 2019.
The health effects of MGV powder are not currently studied, but they have much higher saturated fat content from palm oil, which may be bad for cardiovascular health
References
Corniaux, C., Duteurtre, G., Dia, D., & Chatellier, V. (2021). Low-cost products in the internationalization of agri-food markets: The case of European exports of milk powders to West Africa. HAL. ↩︎