Summary of newspapers of the previous day – 6.12.2011

FT: Crisis in euro area brings down cocoa price

The present debt crisis in euro area contributes to a fall of prices of cocoa bean whose price has decreased by more than 40 percents since the last year´s maximum and it is lowermost from the end of 2008. Even if Europe is the biggest cocoa consumer, the price fall is surprising according to many experts. Besides fears that chocolate consumption will decrease owing to the crisis the price decline could be influenced also by a high crop of cocoa bean in the west of Africa. “The cocoa beans market reacts sensitively on economic decrease”, an analyst of the financial institute Rabobank Keith Flury, cited by the sheet Financial Times (FT) said to the cocoa price decline. Europe shares in the worldwide cocoa consumption roughly by 40 %, nevertheless, Flury warns that after the financial crisis in 2008 the cocoa consumption decrease in both Europe and the USA.

Support to school milk consumption took place also in 2010/2011

In the school year 2010/2011 in the framework of the programme “school milk” the State Agricultural Intervention Fund paid off to six approved subjects for delivered supported milk products more than 53 mil. CZK. The share of support from the CR financial resources amounted to 80 % and from the EU resources 20 %. The support to school milk consumption was ranked in the Czech Republic among subsidiary programmes for agriculture already in the autumn 1999. The purpose of the support is to decrease calcium deficit in children population by means of milk consummation and improvement of eating habits of children together with security of milk sale for farmers.

16 centres of bee plague was destroyed in Vysočina thanks to monitoring

Veterinarian detected 16 centres of dangerous disease - American foulbrood in Vysočina this year. About 150 bee colonies had to be burnt. This disease is incurable; a breeder has to burn beehives. Areal mapping of the bee brood disease on the territory of this region was enabled by a project subsidized by the Union and the Ministry of Agriculture. Its results were negotiated by a regional council. A vice-hetman Vladimír Novotný said to journalists that not only bee-keepers had shown interest in the testing. 85 percents of basic organizations of bee-keepers in the region participated in the project. 23 of 3147 assembled samples were positive in presence of American foulbrood spores. According to statistics of the Czech Bee-keeper Union, there were about 49 800 bee colonies in Vysočina a year ago. According to Jiří Šulc from the Regional Veterinary Administration the number of destroyed bee colonies is not high regarding their total number on the region territory.

Food Inspection found rotten chickens in Veselí nad Moravou

Packaged chilled chicken parts from Poland, which were rotten and smelled, were detected by today´s check of the State Agricultural and Food Inspection (SZIP) in Penny Market on Masarykova road in Veselí nad Moravou. Michal Spáčil, a spokesman of the Inspection, said it to ČTK. SZIP obliged the chain store Penny Market to check this product in all premises and to withdraw possible other objectionable package from sale.