The ICOS Dairy Committee Chairman, Jerry Long participated in a high level civil dialogue meeting on the dairy industry held in Brussels on 10 November. The general mood from industry participants across Europe was subdued despite a relatively kind autumn in terms of weather. Cash flow and financial pressure within the dairy sector is mounting across Europe despite the recent announcement of EU support measures.

A summary of the main conclusions of the meeting are as follows:

Targeted Aid: Member States have until 30 June 2016 to distribute their allocation, of which Ireland received €13.7 million. Member States can top-up their allocation by 100%.

Private Storage Aid: As part of the support measures, private storage aids for SMP and butter were extended and enhanced. In addition, a new scheme for cheese with a limit of 100,000 tonnes was announced. Ireland quickly filled their allocation of 1,835 tonnes of cheese. Member States must notify the Commission by 31 December 2015 if they wish to avail of any remaining unused allocations of cheese for PSA.

Promotion: The Commission will establish a new executive agency based in Luxembourg to oversee the promotion of EU food products including dairy. The majority of funding will be available for the generic promotion of EU food products, with the promotion of branded products allowed under certain circumstances.

Milk Market Observatory: The Commission received strong support from the industry to strengthen the Milk Market Observatory to ensure the greater availability of timely, accurate and relevant data on global markets, milk prices, volumes and input costs.

Bilateral Trade Agreements: The prospect of the European Commission entering into trade talks with New Zealand raised significant concern, with industry uncertain as to the overall benefits any agreement could achieve due to the differences in scale between our respective economies.

Other Matters: EIB financing, origin labelling, animal welfare, the School Milk Scheme and the National Emissions Ceilings Directive related to air quality were also discussed.

By Eamonn Farrell

Agri & Food Policy Executive