Brussels, 21/06/2016 (Agence Europe) - Despite the request by several member states for the new support package to help farmers overcome the impact of the crisis to be presented as early as the end of June, technical-level work has shown that it is more likely that the new measures will be presented in July.
That was the conclusion of a further debate at the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) on Monday 20 June. Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan indicated at the end of May that he was not planning any fresh measures to alleviate the effects of the crisis before July. The Agriculture Council, according to a number of sources, will have to make do with reviewing the situation on the agricultural markets (see EUROPE 11572).
Budget. The Commission does not, at this point, have a clear idea of possible margins in the 2016 agriculture budget that would allow fresh money to be released. In addition, the Commission has yet to adopt the draft EU budget for 2017. The date of 28 June has been suggested but has not been confirmed by the Commission which is speaking about a presentation “in the coming weeks”.
The Commission has said, too, that, of the €420 million in the crisis package of September 2015, only €251 million had been used by the member states (89% of the funding allocated to milk, 10% of that for pigmeat and 2% for beef). The Commission has always maintained that this under-usage of the package available does nothing to encourage allocation of fresh funding.
Milk. At the SCA meeting, the Commission is reported to have judged that the situation remains critical for farmers. Production is still high (up 6% in the first quarter of 2016 and up 1.3% in April 2016 on April 2015) and prices remain low (farm gate prices down an average of 4% in April 2016, that is, 13% lower than in April 2015 and 19% lower than the 2015 price). The Commission did, however, note an increase in skimmed milk powder, cheddar and butter prices. Production in May 2016 seems to have fallen slightly but this has yet to be confirmed by reliable data.
The Commission could not provide any information on the countries using the voluntary measure to reduce milk production (Article 222 of the common organisation of the market). Several delegations in the SCA called once again for Community funding to be made available to encourage producers to make use of this supply reduction measure.
Pigmeat. The market would appear to have stabilised (10% increase in prices, 30% increase in exports, with exports to China, in particular, rising). Stocks from the private storage system are coming back onto the market without creating any problems.
Lastly, eight member states asked to be able to use the improved state aid system (€15,000 per farm per year). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)