Mar 25, 1988

MINIMUM EXPORT PRICES RAISED ON DAIRY PRODUCTS

GENEVA MARCH 24 (IFDA)— The international dairy arrangement, a GATT-operated cartel an dairy products, has raised with effect from march 23, the minimum export prices for sales on international markets on a number of products covered under the arrangement.

The arrangement is an umbrella agreement negotiated in 1979 as part of the Tokyo round, with three separate protocols covering various products.

The protocol on certain milk powders raised the minimum prices for skimmed milk powder and buttermilk powder from US$ 825 to 900, and for whole milk powder from US$ 950 to 1,000.

The committee on milk fat raised the minimum prices for anhydrous milk fat from US$ l,400 to 1,325 and for butter from US$ 1,000 to 1,100.

The committee on the protocol for certain cheeses raised the minimum export price far cheeses governed by it from US$ 1,120 to 1,200 per metric tonne.

All prices are per metric tonne and FOB.

The arrangement's signatories are: Argentina, Australia, Bulgaria, the EEC, Egypt, Finland, Hungary, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and Uruguay.

The signatories are exporters and importers, and theoretically thus like a commodity agreement.

However, except for Egypt perhaps, all the rest have significant domestic production, and the uses of minimum export prices are used to protect their own home markets.

The United States, which was a signatory to the arrangement, however withdrew from it a couple of years ago over sales by the EEC of so-called "old butter" at below minimum prices to the Soviet Union and some other customers.

Later Austria too withdrew from the agreement.