IN BRIEF
IN BRIEF
uEUROPEAN grain traders are predicting a tighter wheat market next season, after poor weather and late plantings in much of northern Europe. Brussels-based trade body COCERAL expects a wheat crop not higher than that of 1997, when 87m tonnes was produced in the EU, compared to 94m tonnes this year.
uTHE NFU has won support from COPA, the European farmers union, in its bid to boost ewe premium payments. The union is lobbying the European Commission to suspend the budgetary stabiliser mechanism introduced 10 years ago to limit spending in the sheep sector. It argues that sheep quotas make it redundant. The stabiliser reduces the EU basic price for sheepmeat by 7%, reducing the ewe premium. A suspension for 1998 would boost premium payments from £16.16 to £20.98. *