The observatory report indicates Ireland offered 170t of SMP to public intervention on the week beginning January 4. This the first time since early October.

This comes in line with other member states also increasing product offered. For instance, the UK has used intervention for the first time in five months. Intervention flows have steadily crept up over the last six weeks, with last week seeing the biggest jump, from 3,748t to 6,359t. Belgium accounted for nearly one third of this, with 2,182t offered.

Private storage

The private storage aid (PSA) scheme is telling a similar story, with dairy products offered by countries on the increase. Butter quantity offered into private storage the first week of 2016 by the combined 28 EU member states was more than double that of the previous week. SMP with storage periods of both 365 days and less than 210 days also saw an increase.

Ireland did not offer butter or SMP into private storage.

Cheese in private storage aid continued the trend, increasing to 636t offered across the EU, compared with none the previous week. Ireland met its quota for cheese storage after the first week of the PSA scheme back in October, when 1,850t were offered.

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Ireland back supplying skimmed milk powder to EU intervention scheme

The latest figures from the European Commission indicate Ireland is back offering skimmed milk powder (SMP) to public intervention after a break of over three months, writes Shane Murphy.