abstract:In agricultural policy, the intervention price is the price at which national intervention agencies in the EU are obliged to purchase any amount of a commodity offered to them regardless of the level of market prices (assuming that these commodities meet designated specifications and quality standards). Thus, the intervention price serves as a floor for market prices.
And instead of trying to prop up prices using intervention schemes, as Brazil and other coffee producers have been doing recently, low prices should be seen as an ally: eventually they will drive out inefficient producers elsewhere, and Brazil will be able to increase its earnings through greater volumes.
Homeowners who have suffered for five years as they watched the value of their homes, the consummate investment, drop lower and lower would rather not forgo government intervention to see just how low prices will go.
Analysts had warned of further government intervention after official estimates this month showed private and public home prices climbed to record levels in the October-to-December period.