Nine EU member-states, including Ireland, look set to face fines totalling more than $240 million for exceeding their annual production quotas for milk, European Commission figures showed yesterday.
Under EU agriculture rules, each member-state is granted a milk production quota to avoid flooding the market. Countries which exceed their quota face a fine, or super-levy as it is called, to discourage overproduction.
The figures show the EU went 574.6 million tonnes over its 115.7 billion tonne quota for the 1997-98 (April-March) production year. Only Italy, Finland, France, Portugal, Spain and Sweden kept within quotas.
Germany and Britain, at 317,400 and 115,620 tonnes over quota, are the largest over-producers, and look set to pay the biggest fines of 113 million ($133 million) and 41 million ecus.