Despite the overrun of the quotas in these Member States, total EU production remained well below the total quota volume.

Dacian Ciolo, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, said: "Even though the decision to end the quota regime in 2015 was taken in 2008, Member States must still apply the rules. In order to address the medium to long term concerns of producers, the Commission made proposals last December to address structural issues in the dairy sector. Last week's CAP reform proposals also contain various elements of flexibility which will help respond to concerns for the future."

Following the decisions taken in the framework of the 2008 CAP Health Check, quotas were increased by one per cent in the year 2010/2011. However, according to national declarations, Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria, Cyprus and Luxembourg exceeded their national quotas by a total of almost 200,000 tons.

Denmark and the Netherlands exceeded both their quota for deliveries to dairies and their direct sales quota, while the other Member States exceeded only their quota for deliveries.

Several of the other Member States which respected their quota produced far below their respective national quota; 14 Member States recorded deliveries at least 10 per cent below their quota.

For the quota year 2010/2011, overall EU production was six per cent below the total EU quotas.

Further Reading