Document: Report on Farm Prospects
- February 6th, 2007
- Posted by 7thmin
A report published this week (5.2.07) by the European Commission, on prospects for agricultural markets and income, (2006-13), covers cereals, oilseeds, sugar, meat, eggs, milk and the main dairy products.
Sugar markets are characterised by “growing internal and world markets”, with the main risks related to the slow take-up of restructuring within the European Union system (see EUAustralia, “Sugar Cuts …”, 2.2.07).
It says the poultry and pig meat sector should also exhibit relatively favourable medium-term perspectives but with slower growth than in the last decade.
Beef production, on the other hand, is expected to fall as a consequence of changes in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), moving away from market-linked payments, and the declining dairy herd – leading to a widening trade deficit.
Market balance for the major dairy products is expected to improve over the medium term, “with increasing cheese production and consumption, but lower availabilities of butter and SMP”.
The medium-term projections show “largely balanced” cereals markets, but with “significant risks of regional imbalances and public stocks for maize in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia”.
A spokesman has added that due to market prices being weaker than selling into intervention storages, without system reforms, maize stocks mostly from those countries were expected to build up from the present level of 5-million tones, to 15-million tonnes within eight years.
Overall, medium-term income projections for agriculture display a “rather favourable outlook”, according to this report, as agricultural income, (for the 27 EU countries), would grow by 23.2% between 2005 and 2013 in real terms.
Reference:
“Prospects for Agricultural Markets and Income: 2006-2013”; European Commission, Brussels, February 2007:
http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/publi/caprep/prospects2006b/index_en.htm