Market 'distortion' decried by Americas

摘要

As the European Union (EU) is poised to begin government-financed intervention purchases of skim milk powder (SMP) and butter, dairy farmers and processors in key dairy-producing countries around the world were calling on the EU to "avoid the market-distorting practices that have significantly harmed them and the broader global dairy market in the past." A coalition of dairy organisations from the Americas and the US joined together in urging the EU "not to repeat the inventory-building and extended market-price suppression" it engaged in a few years ago. Exporting large quantities of government-purchased SMP and butter at below market rates onto the world market will prolong the deeply challenging environment under which dairy sectors are operating worldwide, they say. The EU intervention programme would artificially distort prices for an extended period and displace commercial competition, just as the world begins to recover from the immediate impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, the associations say. The groups instead urge the EU to adopt measures that further spur consumption within the EU and encourage its producers to implement appropriate production practices to survive during this difficult time.