EU ends support for cheese
The European Commission has ended the special measure giving private storage aid to manufacturers of cheese of bearing European Union (EU) geographical indications suffering from Russia’s import ban, but it continues it for butter and skimmed milk powder. Brussels decided on 23 September to end the cheese storage aid scheme “following a disproportionate surge in interest from cheese producers in certain regions not traditionally exporting significant quantities to Russia”, a statement released on the day reads.
These requests came mainly from Italian cheese producers, who had lodged private storage aid requests amounting to about 100,000 tonnes of cheese, the European Commission agriculture spokesperson Roger Waite told Dairy Industries International. The maximum volume foreseen under the scheme was set at 155,000 tonnes. “We stopped after 100,000 since it was not serving the purpose,” he says.
The Italian cheese manufacturers were applying for the scheme in response to other structural problems of the local cheese market that had nothing to do with the Russian embargo, Waite explains.
The main EU countries exporting cheese to Russia before the ban were Germany, the Netherlands, Lithuania and Finland, according to European Commission data, with the Russia being almost the unique destination for Baltic cheese exports.
One of the consequences of the Russian embargo on cheese from Europe was that the EU price for cheddar, for example, decreased by 8%, Commission data shows. While it is below the 2013 price, at €354 per 100 kilogrammes in September it is still 16% above the 2007-2011 average price, according to Brussels.
“We had some concerns about the efficiency of the measure, but we appreciated that the Commission tried to do something,” says Alexander Anton, the secretary general of the European Dairy Association (EDA), referring to the private storage aid scheme for cheeses bearing geographical indications.
As for the continuation by Brussels of the private storage aid scheme for butter and skimmed milk powder, the average prices for the two dairy products currently remain above those needed for intervention, according to Commission officials. But that may yet happen, even if Russia is not an important destination for powders, skimmed milk powder and whole milk powder prices have decreased significantly since the beginning of the Russian embargo, Commission data shows. However, this is not only due to the closing of the Russian market, the official said, but also because of the record milk collection in the EU and in other major milk exporting regions, as well as due to a weakening buying interest from China after a period of high purchase.
“No information is available yet regarding the development of the milk price paid to farmers from August,” a Commission update report reads. It notes that the latest price known for EU farm gate milk dates back from July, when it was €37.30 per 100 kilogrammes. This is still 2.5% higher price than a year before, Brussels added. – Carmen Paun, in Brussels
