Ease export ban with superlevy: ICOS

Irish dairy co-ops have asked the European Commission to spend farmers’ superlevy fines to help dairy industries hit by the Russian food import ban.

Support for the dairy sector will be discussed at a meeting of agriculture experts in Brussels today, and the Irish co-ops also proposed that fat correction be introduced for this year’s milk, to minimise the huge superlevy threat facing farmers in the last year of EU milk quotas.

However, sources in Brussels have predicted that aid may be limited to the worst affected countries — Finland and the Baltic states, and maybe the Netherlands — and to butter and skim milk powder.