ABSTRACT
The price policy is concerned with maintaining internal prices for European Community farmers. This chapter presents a general statement of the object and methods of the price policy and the price-fixing process of the Common Agricultural Policy. It provides a brief review of the regulations for several major agricultural products and an indication of how the policy has developed and the problems it faces in the economic environment of the late 1960s and the 1970s. The annual agricultural price-fixing is the occasion of a major debate on policy issues. The annual price review, as a regulation, is legally binding on all member states, the new prices coming into effect in all member states on specified dates. Costs of pig production are, in turn, affected by alterations in cereal prices and hence the competitiveness of pork in the meat market is affected. The annual price-fixing, when official price levels for agricultural products are set, has posed major problems for the Community.
