Milk quotas could benefit Polish producers, says expert
EU - EU quotas, which have been criticised for damaging Poland’s dairy production, could actually help the industry to thrive in the EU, according to an industry expert.
18 October 2006
1 minute read
Speaking to CEE-Foodindustry.com, Dr Agata Pieniadz from the Leibniz institute of agricultural development (IAMO) said that the quotas would help to “accelerate structural change, vital to competing with other dairy industries in the EU”.
The claims follow the announcement that dairy producers in the country face fines of €62m for exceeding milk quotas designed to reduce levels of surplus milk in the bloc.
The EU sees the quotas as a vital step in increasing competitiveness in the market by reducing prices and lowering
Talking about the measures, Dr Pieniadz added that “there will be a lot of positives from the new measures. The quotas will encourage large processors to incorporate a higher level of understanding of for the need of efficient production and improve the quality of produce in line with EU standards.”
Dr Pieniadz accepted however, that the quotas will have some negative impacts. “The social costs are definitely a drawback,” she said, particularly in the case of smaller producers who may suffer under with the new system.
“Regions in the North East of the country are highly concentrated on dairy production, while producers in the South East are only fulfilling 60 – 70 per cent of their quotas. Unfortunately producers are not allowed to trade quotas' with processors outside of their region” she said.
Source: Dairyreporter.com
