Brussels, 30/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission announced on Thursday 29 September that it intended to allow private storage of olive oil, following a fall in market prices, especially in Spain, in recent weeks. Spain, backed up by the other producer countries, Italy, France and Greece, has been pressing consistently for such a decision.
Article 33 of the 2007 regulation on common market organisation (CMO) states that the Commission can authorise bodies to enter into contracts for the storage of the olive oil which they are marketing, in the event of serious market disruption in regions in the Community, for example, when the average market price over a representative period is under €1,779 per tonne of extra virgin olive oil or €1,710 per tonne of virgin olive oil.
The Commission noted that virgin olive oil prices on the Spanish market had fallen below the price triggering aid for private storage, one of the crisis management instruments.
Tenders may be lodged in all olive oil producing member states of the EU. The quality concerned is virgin olive oil and the total quantity up to which aid for private storage may be granted is 100,000 tonnes. The storage period will be six months, so that the stored quantity will only be able to come back on the market after the end of the upcoming 2011-2012 harvest.
Commission action plan. European Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Cioloº said that he had taken this decision to help the sector address some of its short-term problems. By authorising a six-month storage period, “I believe that we will not adversely affect the market at the start of the new season”. At the same time, the medium- to long-term structural problems will have to be looked at, “and I will be coming forward with a concrete action plan on this in the coming weeks”, the commissioner said. (LC/transl.rt)