Poland pushing for further EU dairy market intervention

A combination of factors has reduced dairy prices, including but not limited to the end of EU quotas for milk production earlier this year and a Russian embargo on the EU.

A joint Polish and Czech proposal which included raising the intervention price for milk, the price at which the EU is obliged to buy any amount of milk offered to it, was supported by Bulgaria, Romania, Spain, Slovenia, Slovakia and Hungary.

However, Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan disagreed with raising the intervention price, saying that it would be wrong given the EU’s pro-market policy and that the EU already has instruments to intervene.

Pekka Pesonen, Secretary General of Copa-Cogeca, called on the European Commission “to advance the direct payments before the 1st of December and to ensure that the 2014/2015 superlevy is returned to the dairy sector to help dairy farmers with their cash flow problems.”

Poland has previously appealed to the European Commission (EC), although the EC argues that low prices are caused by a surplus of milk.

Since the appeal the condition of milk producers has further deteriorated. According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization the Dairy Price Index in June this year was down 4.1 percent from May.

The June Dairy Price Index was also 32 percent lower than in June 2014. (sl/nh)

Source: PAP