Brussels, 26/08/2014 (Agence Europe) - The Management Committee for the Common Organisation of the Agricultural Markets is expected on Thursday 28 August to approve private storage aid measures for butter and possibly skimmed milk powder.
Such measures will be taken to ease the impact of Russian restrictions on imports of EU agricultural products and complement the support measures already announced to help European producers of certain perishable fruit and vegetables
In the context of milk products, the countries most affected by the Russian embargo are the Baltic countries and Finland. A third of EU butter exports normally go to Russia.
The EU is not expected to pay private storage assistance for cheese because it is hoped that private butter storage will encourage producers in Lithuania and Finland, for example, to produce butter and not cheese. Private storage aid for butter is expected to reduce supply pressures on the market. These private storage measures will be included in an implementing act and will therefore apply directly after the committee gives the go-ahead.
Three measures possible. Some measures applied in the milk sector act as a safety net in the event of serious market imbalances. One of these measures consists in purchasing butter and skimmed milk powder and putting it in public storage (“public intervention”).
Another measure (the one to be decided on Thursday) consists in granting public aid to cover the costs of storing butter in private storage. Thanks to this assistance, producers can temporarily withdraw their products from the market instead of resorting to public intervention.
Export refunds can also be used to correct market imbalances.
Exceptional support measures to EU producers of perishable fruit and vegetables. The final draft on the exceptional support measures for EU producers of perishable fruit and vegetables (measures announced on 19 August) is expected to be finalised on Friday 29 August. Measures will be backdated to 18 August. The European Parliament and Council will, however, have the possibility of opposing the text (within a period of two months) because this is a delegated act. These measures apply till the end of November and have a planned budget of €125 million.
The products affected by these measures are the following: tomatoes, carrots, white cabbage, peppers, cauliflower, cucumbers and gherkins, mushrooms, apples, pears, red fruits, table grapes and kiwis. The markets for these products are in full season, with no storage option for most of them and no immediate alternative market available.
The exceptional measures include market withdrawals especially for free distribution, compensation for non-harvesting and green harvesting. The financial assistance will cover all producers whether members of producer organisations or not.
Ahead of the special EU agriculture ministers' meeting planned for 5 September, the Commission will prepare a list of the provisions that may be introduced at Community and national levels to limit the impact of this embargo on the different sectors. The products targeted by Russia are worth a total amount of €5 billion. EU agricultural and food exports from the EU to Russia are worth around €12 billion every year.
In a press release published on Tuesday 26 August, COPA-COGECA called for the implementation of special market measures if necessary, such as early direct payments, speeding up promotion campaigns to stimulate new demand and finding new market outlets for the produce like in China and the Middle East. The organisation stated that “initial estimates show that the damage will be much bigger than the €400 million available in the CAP crisis fund. The support must consequently not be financed out of the CAP budget only but also from other funds”. It should also be pointed out that Polish farmers demonstrated in Brussels on Tuesday 26 August to call on the EU to provide additional assistance. Spanish farmers and farming cooperatives also demonstrated last weekend. (LC)