Brussels has begun building a new intervention beef mountain. But first purchases prompted by BSE on the continent have totalled only 12,000 tonnes, mostly in France and Germany. The stockpile will not match the previous mountain in size as destruction is now the preferred strategy. The former mountain was of benefit to commercial beef buyers. Slaughterers constantly complained of the stockpile as a depressant keeping prices lower than available tonnages justified. {{MEAT }}

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