A vote to sell skimmed milk powder (SMP) from intervention stocks twice a month was passed without dissension from any member state in Brussels this week.

The European Commission has been considering moving to twice-monthly sales for some time, but now it has the freedom to cement the proposal.

Roughly 300,000t of SMP is still sitting in intervention, and the Commission has ruled that it will not be buying any more from member states for the foreseeable future.

There had been fears that offloading SMP from intervention would disrupt market prices, but the European Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan has expressed his confidence that the number of sales to date have not had an adverse effect on the market.

However, sources within the industry were reportedly positive about the potential move.

A timeline has yet to be put in place for doubling monthly SMP sales.

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