PARIS:

Europe’s largest dairy producer, Lactalis, said on Tuesday it was ready to renegotiate milk prices paid to producers after hundreds of farmers protested outside its headquarters in northwestern France demanding higher prices.

Lactalis will meet French milk producers in Paris on Thursday morning, members of France’s largest farm union FNSEA said separately after holding talks with Lactalis representatives near the company’s base in the town of Laval.

European milk farmers are struggling with a slump in prices caused by the European Union ending quotas last year, Russia’s ban on Western food imports and weak Chinese dairy imports.