P. M. BRIEFING : Milk Price Support Cut 50

The Agriculture Department announced today that the federal price support for milk produced by farmers will be reduced Jan. 1 to $10.10 per 100 pounds, a 50-cent cut from the current level.

Acting Secretary Roland R. Vautour said the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1989 authorized a reduction of up to 50%--the maximum announced today--if government purchases of surplus dairy products are expected to exceed 5 billion pounds of milk equivalent in 1990.

If the support had remained at $10.60 per hundredweight, 1990 purchases by the department’s Commodity Credit Corp. would have totaled an estimated 8 billion pounds, he said. With the reduction to $10.10, purchases are expected to be 7.4 billion pounds.