Irish milk producers are facing fines for exceeding their annual production quotas, the European Commission said today.
Irish farmers exceeded their EU production quota by 60,000 tonnes, which has triggered a superlevy fine of €16m.
The milk production over-run is just over 1% of Ireland's quota. The superlevy is charged at €27.83 per 100 kilos and is levied on producers.
Five other countries - Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Cyprus and Luxembourg - also broke their production quotas. The six countries, including Ireland, are facing total fines of €79m.
However, the total EU milk production was 4.7% below its global production volume.
The EU quota system was introduced in 1980 to address problems of surplus production and ''milk lakes''. It is due to end in 2015, allowing EU farmers to sell into rising world demand for milk products.
The Irish dairy industry has been investing heavily to expand output ahead of the abandonment of the quotas.
