Sales of skimmed milk powder (SMP) could be increased by the European Commission from once to twice a month.

“We have sold 70,000t of SMP powder in the last three months. It hasn’t made a major impact on the dairy price which was a worry,” European Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan told the Irish Farmers Journal.

“It shows that my strategy in relation to the storage of skimmed milk powder to protect farm incomes in 2015 and the sale of the product now in 2018 is working well on behalf of the farmer.”

Some 295,000t of SMP remains in intervention and Tom Tynan, a member of the Commissioner’s cabinet, cited the continued strength of the dollar with increased oil prices as a providing a strong market for increased volumes of SMP.

“We’re looking at two tenders a month now, because there is decent demand there and there is a decent backdrop.”

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