EU proposes measures to stabilize dairy market
Updated: 2009-07-22 22:30:31
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BRUSSELS, July 22 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission on Wednesday proposed a series of measures to support milk farmers and stabilize the struggling dairy market.
"We have to do all we can to help our milk producers, who are having to deal with a dramatic fall in prices," said Mariann Fischer Boel, European Union Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development.
The commission said it will continue to use instruments such as intervention, private storage aid and export refunds to help diary producers. It also will allow direct payments to farmers to be paid early and has launched a new round of dairy promotion programs.
EU member states also have the ability to redistribute aid to the dairy sector under an agreement reached last year involving the alliance's common agriculture policy.
The Commission is continuing an examination of potential anti-competitive practices in the food supply chain, especially in the dairy sector.
But it has refused to suspend a quota increase, a key demand by milk farmers who recently held protests across the EU amid falling market prices.
EU farm ministers in November agreed to lift milk production quotas by one percent per year before scrapping them altogether in 2014-2015. But since then, milk prices across the EU have plummeted, falling by up to 50 percent in some member states.
Special Report:
BRUSSELS, July 22 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission on Wednesday proposed a series of measures to support milk farmers and stabilize the struggling dairy market.
"We have to do all we can to help our milk producers, who are having to deal with a dramatic fall in prices," said Mariann Fischer Boel, European Union Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development.
The commission said it will continue to use instruments such as intervention, private storage aid and export refunds to help diary producers. It also will allow direct payments to farmers to be paid early and has launched a new round of dairy promotion programs.
EU member states also have the ability to redistribute aid to the dairy sector under an agreement reached last year involving the alliance's common agriculture policy.
The Commission is continuing an examination of potential anti-competitive practices in the food supply chain, especially in the dairy sector.
But it has refused to suspend a quota increase, a key demand by milk farmers who recently held protests across the EU amid falling market prices.
EU farm ministers in November agreed to lift milk production quotas by one percent per year before scrapping them altogether in 2014-2015. But since then, milk prices across the EU have plummeted, falling by up to 50 percent in some member states.
Special Report: