Press Release: Levies for milk quota overruns total €221 million

The levies for Member States exceeding their milk production quotas come to almost €221 million for the 2006/07 marketing year, according to a provisional calculation by the European Commission, based on Member States' annual declarations. Last year the total levy amounted to €355 million. Seven Member States (Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, Italy, Germany, Luxembourg, and Netherlands) exceeded their delivery quotas. Altogether these account for an overrun of 773,728 tonnes, resulting in a deliveries levy of €220.82 million. Almost 80% of the total is due to excess production in Italy which exceeded its quota by 6%. Austria exceeded its quota by 3.3% but the other 5 countries who have incurred a levy were each less than 1% over quota. In relation to direct sales to consumers only Cyprus and Netherlands reported overruns, totalling 420 tonnes resulting in a levy on direct sales of €120,000.