France calls for reduced EU milk production to tackle dairy market glut

The French proposals to the EU agriculture council want an incentivised scheme established to help cut EU milk production in 2016
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Ireland has submitted a range of proposals to tackle the current price volatility in dairy and pork markets ahead of the next meeting of the council of EU agriculture ministers on 14 March. Some of the proposals include measures to increase the intervention ceiling for SMP to 200,000 tonnes from its current level of 109,000 tonnes, a further referral off superlevy payments but no increase in intervention price levels. Ireland also calls for the reopening of the PSA scheme (private storage) for pigmeat.
While Irish proposals seek the best outcomes for farmers here, there are some contrasting submissions from other member states ahead of the next meeting of the EU agriculture council next week.

French proposals

France has also submitted a detailed list of proposals to the council, the standout of which is an incentivised scheme to encourage a reduction in milk production across Europe between the months of May and September.
The French proposal suggests that a €200m fund be created to incentivise farmers to cut milk production by about 3% or 2bn litres in 2016 compared with 2015. France proposes that farmers be paid a rate of €100 for every 1000 litres of milk not produced compared with the previous year.
It adds that countries that do not ease milk production should be penalised through binding measures. For example, processors or milk collectors who increase their collections of raw milk from producers would be hit with a financial penalty.
France says that by using a dissuasive approach to milk production in Europe, the EU can bring about a significant reduction in dairy volumes placed on the market which will allow for price recovery.
France other proposals include increasing the intervention price for butter and skimmed milk powder for the coming year. Along with this, France would like to see an increase in the intervention ceilings for butter and SMP.
It wants the SMP ceiling increased from 109,000 tonnes to 160,000 tonnes, while it sees the need to lift the intervention ceiling for butter from 50,000 tonnes to 80,000 tonnes. For the pig sector, France says the EU needs to continue efforts to have the Russian trade embargo lifted as well as reopening private storage aid for pigmeat.

UK proposals

The submission from our nearest neighbours in the UK is less of a list of proposals but rather an open letter from George Eustace MP, the UK minister of state for farming, food and the marine environment.
In his letter, Mr Eustace calls for greater transparency in the dairy supply chain as well as clear country of origin labelling on all EU produce. He adds that the UK is sceptical about additional EU market support or intervention which would be a backward step.
Eustace says such measures only detach farmers from market signals, increase consumer prices and reduce the incentive for new risk hedging instruments. The UK is very keen to support the development of a dairy futures market in particular in Europe, much like the one in Chicago.
Eustace concludes his letter by saying he is also concerned with the suggestion that the EU should seek to restrict production of milk or pork in a period of low prices. He adds that this would damage the long term competitiveness of the UK industry by penalising the most entrepreneurial and efficient farmers.
 
Source: FarmersJournall
 

Mirá También

Así lo expresó Domingo Possetto, secretario de la seccional Rafaela, quien además, afirmó que a los productores «habitualmente los ignoran los gobiernos». Además, reconoció la labor de los empresarios de las firmas locales y aseguró que están «esperanzados» con la negociación entre SanCor y Adecoagro.

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