Large cuts in export subsidies on skim milk powder have been agreed by the EU dairy management committee on a proposal from the European Commission to exploit a rising world market and a falling euro exchange rate. Export restitutions have been cut 40% to 15 euros per 100kg. The adjustment is one of a succession of cuts since January, from 90 euros/100 kg in the autumn of 1999. SMP prices have risen strongly during the last 12 months, driven upwards mainly by the recovery in the Asian and Latin American economies' buying power, but also by constraints on subsidised exports in the US and EU. The continuing fall in the value of the euro against the US dollar has allowed a general reduction in EU export subsidies as well as in the SMP export refunds. {{PROVISIONS }}

Topics