Brussels, 01/07/2015 (Agence Europe) - After the European Milk Board and Via Campesina (see EUROPE 11347), Copa-Cogeca sounded the alarm on Wednesday 1 July over the difficulties being faced by producers of milk and dairy products.
At the previous day's meeting of the EU Milk Market Observatory, Copa and Cogeca warned of the seriously difficult market situation producers were experiencing.
Mansel Raymond, who chairs the Copa-Cogeca Milk Working Party, said that currently the 750,000 European milk producers are struggling with their margins and face major cash flow problems. “Prices paid to milk producers don't even cover production costs in most countries. The situation is becoming unbearable in the short-term without the European Commission's support”, he stated. This support is needed, he went on, if a serious loss in production capacity is to be avoided. “A loss of production capacity in the milk sector would also disturb the meat market. We therefore urge the Commission to take immediate action to improve the cash flow problems faced by milk producers”, he said.
The measures proposed include: - allowing member states to make direct payments before 1 December; - ensuring that the revenue from the superlevy (a fine imposed for exceeding milk quotas; it took in €700 million in the last marketing year) is returned to the dairy sector to help dairy farmers with their cash flow problems.
The money from the superlevy could, Copa-Cogeca suggest, be put into investments, less favoured areas, internal and external promotion and quality schemes. The agricultural organisations also urge that the public intervention price level be assessed in order to help put a proper floor in the market. (Lionel Changeur)