Measures needed to support weak butter market

The European Commission has been forced by a weakening butter market to maintain and reinforce EU subsidy measures in order to bolster the price of Community butter. A sluggish export market, with Russia buying much less in the early months of 1998, has led to in heavier than expected supplies left in the EU domestic market.
As a result, in the first three months of the year, subsidies for butter for bakery and ice cream were awarded on 112,000 tonnes of butter