European Commission abolishes cheese export refund threshold

FURTHER steps have been taken by the European Commission to help stabilise the difficult dairy markets.

It has decided to abolish the minimum price of €230/100kg at which cheeses qualify for an export refund, allowing more cheese varieties to benefit.

The commission has also decided to temporarily extend the period for intervention purchases of butter and skimmed milk powder until the end of November.

This is to allow buying-in to continue without interruption until the European Council and Parliament have had time to consider the commission’s proposal to extend the intervention period until the new buying-in season begins next March 1.

Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Minister Brendan Smith said he welcomed the commission’s positive response to his request to amend regulations governing the export of cheese to markets outside the European Union.

Prior to the amendment, a minimum “free-at- frontier” cheese threshold price was set at €2,300/t. Product valued below the threshold was not eligible for an export refund.

In the current market situation where cheese prices have reduced considerably, the price threshold was no longer relevant or justified.

Mr Smith said the commission’s decision to remove the free-at-frontier price allows the activation of export refunds when cheese products are exported outside the European Community.

He said he had been pressing Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel to review the price threshold since the early part of the year in bilateral contacts and at meetings of the Council of Agriculture and Fisheries Ministers.

Speaking after the decision was taken at the Milk Management Committee meeting in Brussels, he said he was pleased the commission decided to remove the threshold price for cheese exports, which he had been requesting.

“This has the potential to assist increased volumes of exports of Irish cheese onto world markets and to stimulate fresh demand,” he said.

“This amendment is an example of how a pragmatic approach to the application of the community regulations can have a direct beneficial effect.”

The European Commission said earlier this week that it will do all it can to support milk farmers and stabilise the dairy market using export refunds, intervention and private storage aid.