Page 13 - autraveller

France offers 13INTERNATIONAL

FINANCIAL

HELP for

protesting
livestock
farmers

FRANCE announced measures worth up to 1.1 billion euros
on Wednesday to support its livestock farmers and try to halt
protests which have escalated in recent days into road blockades
in the northwest.
“The aim of the plan is to deal with the emergency but also to
bring sustainable solutions,” Prime Minister Manuel Valls said at
the presidential Elysee palace after a cabinet meeting.
President Francois Hollande had on Tuesday promised a plan to
help struggling cattle, pork and dairy producers suffering from
low prices, tough competition and a squeeze on margins by food
processors and retailers.
French Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll, who has said about
10 percent of livestock farmers were on the brink of bankruptcy,
detailed 24 measures mainly aimed at easing struggling farmers’
cash flow.
The package offers up to 600 million euros worth of tax
exemptions and delayed payments that would cost the French
treasury about 100 million.
In addition, the state would guarantee up to 500 million euros
worth of loans for producers through its public investment bank,
mainly to reimburse debts to suppliers. That would cost the
government another 100 million euros.
In a set of longer term measures, France also aims to reverse a
drop in competitiveness on local and export meat and dairy
markets, notably against other European countries where prices
have been significantly lower, with an initial focus on Greece,
Turkey, Lebanon and Vietnam, Valls said.
France’s largest farm union FNSEA welcomed the plan. “This is
going in the right direction,” FNSEA chairman Xavier Beulin told
reporters. Farmers were starting to lift some of the blockades.
Traditionally mostly right-wing, French farmers have become
increasingly frustrated with the Socialist government of
Hollande, saying increased paperwork and high labor costs are
the main cause for their loss in competitiveness.
Russia’s embargo on European food imports and a milk surplus
linked to the end of EU quotas, lower Chinese demand and
supermarkets’ pricing power have further dented their profits
and morale.
Polls released at the latest elections showed a rising number of
farmers were turning to the far-right National Front.
Le Foll was due to meet sector representatives later on
Wednesday, largely to convince the meat industry to respect a
deal signed in June, in which they agreed to raise prices paid to
farmers.

ARUBA TRAVELLER - Thursday, July 23 2015