Brussels, 12/04/2011 (Agence Europe) - After the calls from several member states, COPA-COGECA, on Tuesday 12 April, urged the European Commission to activate private storage aid for olive oil, warning the situation is getting worse, reaching untenable levels.
COPA-COGECA Secretary General Pekka Pesonen argues that the olive oil sector is the only crop sector where prices have consistently fallen since 2005, causing huge losses for producers. He said: “The market is in serious crisis and the activation of private storage aid is fully justified. The situation has become so bad that Spanish producers are demonstrating and this could spread to the other main producer countries if action is not taken immediately. The demand to open private storage aid was also discussed in the EU Council and in the Management Committee in March where many member states supported it and no member state was against it”.
In view of the catastrophic situation in the sector, COPA-COGECA also urges the Commission to consider, as part of the future common agricultural policy (CAP), medium- and long-term measures, such as: - updating the trigger price for activating private storage aid as current prices, set a decade ago, are no longer representative of market reality; - strengthening EU producers position in the food chain, for example, by concentrating supply via producer organisations, such as cooperatives. (L.C./transl.rt)