Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the value of the UK's powdered milk stockpile; what other products they are stockpiling under the Common Agricultural Policy; and in what quantity and value; and what they expect to be the final destination and selling price of the stockpiled products.

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) public intervention system allows operators to request that a Member State buys certain agricultural products such as Skimmed Milk Powder (SMP) into public storage. Such stocks are subsequently resold when market prices recover. With the greater market orientation of the CAP, public intervention now operates as a safety net measure that is only relevant when prices are very low, as occurred during the “milk crisis” of 2015/16 when large quantities of SMP were bought into public intervention in the EU.

As at 22 February 2018, the UK held 7,731.85 tonnes of SMP in public intervention stores, equivalent to around 2% of total EU purchases. Based on the intervention price of €1,698.00 per tonne, the total cost of purchasing these stocks would have been €13,128,681.30 (£11,678,155.88 using the 2/1/2018 European Central Bank exchange rate).

The European Commission has arrangements in place to sell a certain quantity of the older stock of SMP back onto the domestic market by means of a tendering procedure. The ability to sell the stocks and the price realised depends on a number of factors including the market price, the competitiveness of the bids and the quantities bid for. Sales of EU SMP stocks in February achieved a minimum price of €1100 per tonne.

There are no other products held in public storage in the UK under CAP measures.