Oxfam against the European milk policy

.After sugar, it’s the turn of milk. Taking advantage of the Summit on Enlargement in Copenhagen, Oxfam, a powerful British NGO, brought its attention to the milk policy of the European Union. As it is with sugar, Europe is also accused of forcing down world market prices and ruining the small producers in developing countries. In the report that they have just published, Oxfam’s experts explain that in Kenya the milk industry employs 600,000 farmers and it creates 10% of local wealth. But last year the country was faced with an invasion of European imports at a reduced price. The local producers had to adapt and their revenues suffered. India is the world’s first producer of milk, is self-sufficient and has doubled its milk exports in the last two years. Even it is now complaining about the European policy of exporting and dumping its powered milk or butter on the world market.

The Fifteen, soon to be The Twenty Five, know no shame, according to the Oxfam experts. They take advantage of the least crack to penetrate new markets, but they have built up solid customs barriers against imports. It’s behind these barriers and with the help of subsidies and quotas that the Europeans produce 10% more milk than they need. It is this 10%, mostly from Ireland, the Netherlands and Denmark, that is to be found on the world market. It is the companies who transform the milk into milk products who benefit the most, says Oxfam. In fact, despite the policies that are supposed to protect them, today the number of European dairy farmers is less than 600, 000; half what it was in 1994.