France’s Le Foll Asks EU to Study Milk-Market Stability Measures

French Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll asked European Union Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos to consider a milk-market stability mechanism as part of the reform of the 27-nation bloc’s Common Agricultural Policy.

France will end a system of taxing dairy farmers that exceed production limits after the European Commission contested the legality of the measure, the Agriculture Ministry wrote in a e-mailed statement today.

“It’s imperative to develop alternative mechanisms to cope with seasonal supply surpluses,” Le Foll was cited as saying in the statement. “I’ve written to the commissioner to ask him to think about, as part of the CAP reform, a community stability mechanism in the milk sector.”

France is the EU’s second-largest milk producer, behind Germany, Eurostat data show.

To contact the reporter on this story: Rudy Ruitenberg in Paris at rruitenberg@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net