Payments on EU milk reduction scheme lower than expected

Published 22 March 17

Under the EU’s Milk Production Reduction Scheme, farmers applied to reduce production by a total of 1,029m litres during the period covering October-December 2016. However, applications for payment, which needed to be made in the first week of February, fell short of the volumes originally indicated in September 2016.

Applications for payment were submitted for only 80% of this, amounting to 827m litres. In the UK, farmers applied for 109m litres of reduced volume as part of the scheme, equivalent to 3% of the previous year’s production. However, applications for payment amounted to only 87m litres, 80% of the volumes originally applied for.

The money not used as part of the €150m earmarked for the targeted reduction of 1.07mt (1.04m litres) “will remain available for agricultural expenditure & will finance other market measures that may prove necessary in the sector”, DG-Agri officials add.