Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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16. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the discussions he has had with the European Commission on skimmed milk powder currently held in intervention; the plans envisaged in this area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21053/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, dairy markets experienced significant difficulties for a period spanning almost two years, due to a combination of increased global supply, the effects of the Russian ban on the import of EU agri-food products and reduced global demand, notably for dairy products in China.

The Commission, both prompted and supported by Ireland, among other Member States, responded to these difficulties through the deployment of support measures, including intervention provided for under the CAP.

Ireland has welcomed some of the measures adopted by the Commission over the last 18 months. These include the buying of skimmed milk powder (SMP) into intervention, where Ireland's industry  has placed some 36,000 tonnes of product since September 2015. Since then, the volume thresholds for fixed-price intervention for SMP were raised on a number of occasions. Currently there are over 350,000 tonnes of SMP in intervention across the EU.

The increased volume thresholds for SMP of 350,000 tonnes and a commitment to avoid market disruption when releasing product have had a stabilising effect on the market in late 2016 and early 2017. 

More recently the process of tendering for release of product back onto the market has commenced, with a single tendering round in December 2016 and 7 tendering rounds through 2017 thus far. On each occasion the Commission have adopted a cautious approach, with only 40 tonnes released in December. The tendering events since December have seen all offers rejected on the basis of what were deemed insufficient offers below the market price for the stock, with this approach supported unanimously by Member States, including Ireland.

It is critically important that the release of these stocks is managed in a way that does not de-stabilise the market and to date I am satisfied that the Commission has managed these stocks in a prudent and sensible manner.