24/07/2009

Agreement on further measures to stabilise dairy market

The management committee yesterday gave a favourable opinion on two proposals which form part of the Commission's package of measures to help stabilise the dairy market (see IP/09/1172). The first is to temporarily extend the period for intervention purchases of butter and skimmed milk powder until the end of November 2009. This is to allow buying-in to continue without interruption until the Council and Parliament have had time to consider the Commission's proposal to extend the intervention period until the new buying-in season begins on 1st March 2010. The second is to abolish the minimum price (230 €/100kg) at which cheeses qualify for an export refund. This will allow more cheese varieties to benefit from export refunds. The Commission will formally adopt these proposals in the coming days.