The legislation to increase the ceiling for buying-in Skimmed Milk Powder from 218,000t to 350,000t at the fixed price (€1698/t) has been enacted. As of 21^st June, 219,861 tonnes of SMP was bought-in at the fixed price, with a separate 78,525 bought through the tender procedure, which is now formally closed.

Meanwhile, ICOS was represented at the European Milk Market Observatory Economic Board Meeting on 28^th June in Brussels. While EU milk output was up 5.6% for the January-April period, supply is expected to slow throughout the remainder of the year due to increased culling, higher feed costs and weather. Globally, the UN FAO forecasts that milk production will grow by 1.6% in 2016, which is lower than 2015 (+1.8%) and 2014 (+3.2%).

Eamonn Farrell

Agri-Food Policy Executive