Speaking at the informal meeting of agricultural ministers in Brno, Copa President Padraig Walshe stressed that the Council should urgently take further action to address the severe market crisis in the dairy sector.

The President insisted, “The European dairy sector is experiencing an extraordinary market crisis. The only way to solve this crisis is to fully use the market management instruments, which the European Commission has at its disposal. It is important for example, that intervention
purchases of butter and skimmed milk-powder (SMP) are maintained, but the current situation is so severe that more must be done.”

He further explained, “ The single most important step that the Commission and Council could take at the moment, would be to grant financial support to use SMP in animal feed. According to our calculations, up to an additional 150 000 tonnes of SMP could then be used, greatly reducing
the pressure on the dairy market.”

http://www.copa-cogeca.eu/Download.ashx?ID=520758&fmt=pdf

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