EU intervention bought 2,891t of SMP last week. This is up from just 1,117t the previous week and is the highest figure reported by the European Commission so far this year.

The EU’s two largest milk producers accounted for the bulk of the increase. France placed more than 900t into the scheme, a sudden increase after very low usage this year. Germany sold 738t of SMP into intervention.

Meanwhile, the latest auction held by the EU ended this Thursday with no SMP sold from intervention stockpiles.

The Irish Farmers Journal understands there was only one offer from Poland for 40t, but the price on offer was 6% under intervention level and all countries rejected it.

Some 357,000t of SMP remains in EU intervention stocks, of which 21,862t is offered for sale at monthly auctions.

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