The European Union is set to provide an emergency aid of €500m to compensate for falling milk and meat prices, as thousands of protesting farmers blocked the streets near the EU neighbourhood in Brussels.
The Commission is set to make immediate direct payments to farmers. The payments are meant to cover the cost of storing skimmed-milk powder and to promote export of dairy and pork products.
European dairy farmers have seen a 20% dip in wholesale milk prices over the last one year following the Russian ban on the imports of European food products, the value of which is estimated to be at €12bn.
The Russian ban was in response to EU's sanctions on Moscow over the crisis in Ukraine. Russia was one of the main markets of the EU for dairy products. Russia imported 32% of cheese and 24% of butter from EU.
In addition, farmers have also been struggling to cope with deregulation of dairy market following the removal of milk quotas this year. Changing dietary habits, droughts in Eastern Europe, global oversupply of milk, African swine fever in Northern Europe, and lower demand in China have been attributed to the current condition.
Around 5,000 farmers descended on Brussels, demanding the Commission to take action.
