European Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan is proposing to extend the Aid to Private Storage Scheme (APS) for butter and skimmed milk powder (SMP) until 30 September 2016.

The scheme is currently due to end on 29 February.

As of 17 January, Ireland has offered 893t of SMP into private storage for 2016.

Stocks building

In 2015, Ireland offered 1,843t of SMP into APS out of a total 40,280t for the 28 member states. In comparison, Belgium offered 16,664t. Stocks in private storage have been building since May 2015.

Ireland currently has no butter in APS for 2016, but used 19,379t in 2015 and 8,014t in 2014.

A total of 141,366t of butter was in private storage across the 28 member states for 2015 and stocks have been falling since August last year.

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