Commission forced to act after admitting Russia trade ban is biting

Price signals on the European dairy market show that the Russian ban is starting to hit the sector, the European Commission accepted yesterday.

It announced emergency market support measures to alleviate the impact of Russian restrictions on imports of EU dairy products and to curb the ill effects on the internal market. These will focus on milk powder, butter and exported cheeses. Further measures will be taken if needed.

The commission announced it would open private storage aid for butter, skimmed milk powder (SMP) and certain cheeses.