Three EU countries face fines for exceeding 2009/10 quotas
The total is comparatively low compared to previous years; last year superlevy fines were €99m and in the previous year they added up to €340m.
The three countries to exceed their quotas this time around were Denmark, the Netherlands and Cyprus.
Levy details
The Netherlands and Denmark exceeded their ‘deliveries’ quota by 0.4 per cent, and Cyprus by 0.3 per cent, triggering fines of €13.03m, €5.68m and €125 000 respectively.
The deliveries quota refers deliveries to dairies and is distinguished from the direct sales quota that covers products sold straight to consumers. Only the Netherlands overran the direct sales quota, and so faces an additional levy of € 631 000.
For the first time since the increase in quotas agreed under the 2008 CAP Health Check, Italian production finished within quota.
Lower production
Global EU production finished some 7 per cent below global quota volumes. This partially reflected the difficult market situation.
Unsteady global demand led to a reduction of global deliveries of 0.6 per cent and in 11 member states the drop was more than 2 per cent.
Commenting on the figures, EU agriculture Commissioner Dacian Cioloş said: “Although these figures confirm that Italy has finally managed to stay within its quota, the 2009/2010 quota year will only be remembered for the particularly difficult market situation witnessed in so many member states.”
The Commissioner added that he is optimistic his proposals, to be presented in December, will enable producers to respond better to market changes and offer more stability as the quota system draws to an end in 2015.
