At the Agriculture Council in Luxembourg on 18 June, France will suggest the animal feed sector as a channel for speeding up the disposal of skimmed milk powder stocks, which have been affecting the market for several months.
In a memo to be presented to EU agriculture ministers and the European Commission, France will suggest assigning a significant quantity of the skimmed milk powder stocks built up through public intervention (still around 350,000 tonnes) to a “tenders procedure specifically for animal feed”, thereby providing “visibility for operators and the market, which is vital at present”.
The intervention stocks, accumulated during the 2015-2017 milk crisis, have been weighing on the European market for months. The price of skimmed milk powder today is of the order of €1,350-€1,370 per tonne, a historically low level corresponding to around 80% of the intervention price, the French paper points out. The Commission has been trying since the end of 2017 to return some of these stocks to the market.
However, up to March, the tender procedure has been successful only in selling small quantities “at minimal retail prices that are continuing to fall”, France says. Though it is pleased that “tenders received in April brought the sale of over 24,000 tonnes at a slightly higher price than was set in March”, it notes, “even if tender procedures were to be organised a little more frequently, the stocks will continue to put a brake on the market for a long time, making it impossible to achieve price levels more in line with the current trend in demand”. France, therefore, proposes putting in place a specific tender procedure to sell the stocks – in particular the oldest – for animal feed. There is a legal basis for this, with a provision guaranteeing that the powder will not make its way back onto the human food chain, France states in its paper. Feed for piglets, pigs for slaughter and poultry could provide important outlets, it argues. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)