Brussels, 20/07/2011 (Agence Europe) - Bovine meat producers have been experiencing revenue problems in recent years due, amongst other things, to increased production costs, which are not reflected in the prices the producer receives. On Tuesday 19 July, Dacian Cioloº, European Commissioner for Agriculture, announced that the bovine meat market intervention system “must be improved” in the future, to take account of this complex market system (the market and exports are doing reasonably well, whereas producers have been experiencing revenue problems in recent years) and to be able to trigger such mechanisms effectively. The idea is to provide an intervention mechanism which takes account of the price and developments in producers' margins, Cioloº explained. He will make proposals on this as part of the legislative package on the reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP) anticipated for October of this year.
At Tuesday's Agriculture Council in Brussels, the Commission presented the conclusions of the working group on the bovine meat sector. This group has met three times since mid-June. What has the work of the reflection group revealed?
(1) Support in the form of direct payments is still very important in guaranteeing the survival of the bovine sector. The members of this working group stressed the need to keep in place a certain optional degree of coupled support (in other words, support which is linked to the production level). Appropriate treatment for certain landless production systems was also discussed by the working group.
(2) Rural development programmes must include measures in terms of sustainable investment and innovation, as well as risk management tools.
(3) The functioning of the food chain must be improved to: - ensure greater price transparency; - give producers the tools to increase their negotiation powers, by reinforcing producer organisations and inter-professional organisations.
(4) Market management tools. The case of export refunds was brought up by the group. However, the Commission stands firm on this subject, stressing that such measures cost too much and are not effective enough. The other market management instruments (such as intervention) must be operational, as a safety net, without calling into question the principle of market orientation. Recent crises in the dairy and pork sectors have demonstrated the usefulness and relevance of these tools. They have also shown that the actual economic health of the sector must be analysed and that price data are no longer enough. These tools must be effective and it must be possible to launch them when the problem occurs, not when it has already caused unrecoverable damage, the working group concluded.
No country took the floor after the working group's conclusions were presented. At a press conference, Bruno Le Maire, the French minister for agriculture, said: “I would like the Commission to make solid proposals to regulate the bovine meat market, with measures to allow the Commission to intervene at the first sign of crisis, rather than wait until a number of producers are bankrupt.” (L.C./transl.fl)