German farmers stage milk protest

A strike by German dairy farmers over milk prices will soon lead to shortages on supermarket shelves, Germany's main dairy federation (BDM) has said.

Dairy farmers began a strike on Tuesday in protest at the price they are paid by retailers.

They want a minimum 43 euro cents a litre (34 pence). Currently they get between 28-34 euro cents a litre.

Farmers say rising fuel and feed costs have pushed up their operating costs but the retail price has not increased.

"We expect shelves to begin to empty from today or tomorrow at the latest," Romuald Schaber, head of the BDM federation, told Bayerischer Rundfunk radio on Thursday.