EU to re-activate subsidies for dairy products to help exporters

THE European Union is to re-activate subsidies for a series of dairy products to help struggling exporters compete better on the depressed world market.

Under the intervention system, a commodity is “bought in” to stores, either private or public, until prices rise again to a level attractive enough for it to be sold into local EU markets.

Farm Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said the subsidies, suspended since 2007, would be reinstated for butter, cheese and skimmed milk powder via a series of tenders and trade bids.