Dairy
Poland will push for more aid from the EU, as Russia’s embargo and lower prices on the world market hit Poland’s dairy sector. Since the beginning of 2014, prices of skimmed powdered milk and butter have declined by some 30 percent and Edam-style cheese by 25 percent, according to government sources. The wholesale price of milk has declined by 15.4 percent, says the report, and the Agricultural Market Agency expects a further fall. The ministry added that Russia’s import ban has also caused a fall in prices, by 10 percent in the case of milk and butter and by 6 percent in case of cheese. The ministry vowed to press the European Commission to increase aid to the sector.
Sugar
A mixture of rainy weather, a rundown in cane to cut, and a focus by mills on producing ethanol sends Brazilian sugar output sharply lower than last year. Sugar production in Brazil’s Centre South, responsible for some 90% of domestic output, slumped to 1.64m tonnes in the second half of September, down 29% from the first half, cane industry group Unica said. The slide reflected largely a sharp slowdown in the cane harvest, due to unexpected rains in the cane producing regions.