EU aid package: €45 million for beef and lamb private storage aid

The European Commission is preparing to approve an Aids to Private Storage (APS) scheme worth €45 million for beef and lamb produce, as part of its touted €80 million aid package, AgriLand understands.

This is in addition to the €30 million earmarked for private storage aid for the dairy sector to ease the impacts of Covid-19.

Firstly, some €25 million will be allocated for private storage aid for beef and veal – with 25,000t of beef set to be facilitated with storage for a period of between three and five months, it is believed.

The beef storage aid will be focused on steak cuts, it is understood.

In addition, €20 million will be set aside for a similar APS scheme for lamb – which will account for about 36,000t.

The package is being finalised at present, with details expected to be announced in full tomorrow, Thursday, April 23.

Exceptional measures

The European Commission formally revealed that APS would comprise part of the bloc’s “exceptional measures” to deal with the economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic earlier today.

Such a measure will lead to a decrease of available supply on the market and re-balance the market in the long-term, the commission says.

The commission will also authorise the derogation from certain competition rules under the Common Markets Organisation (CMO) Regulation, which will be applicable to both the milk and potato sectors.

This would allow operators to adopt “self-organisation market measures”. These sectors will be allowed to collectively take measures to stabilise the market. For example, the milk sector will be allowed to “collectively plan milk production” and the potato sector will be allowed to withdraw products from the market.