Article 34(2) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 2771/1999 of 16 December 1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1255/1999 as regards intervention on the market in butter and cream stipulates that the amount of aid for private storage referred to in Article 6(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1255/1999 is to be fixed each year.

The third subparagraph of Article 6(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1255/1999 specifies that the aid shall be fixed in the light of storage costs and the likely trend in prices for fresh butter and butter from stocks.

Regarding storage costs, notably the costs for entry and exit of the products concerned, the daily costs for cold storage and the financial costs of storage should be taken into account.

Regarding the likely trend in prices, consideration should be given to the reductions of the butter intervention prices foreseen in Article 4(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1255/1999 and the resulting decreases expected for market prices for fresh butter and butter from stocks and higher aid should be awarded for applications for contracts received before 1 July 2005.

To avoid excessive applications for private storage before that date, an indicative quantity and a communication mechanism enabling the Commission to establish when this quantity is reached need to be introduced for the period ending on 1 July 2005. This indicative quantity should be fixed taking into consideration the quantities covered by storage contracts in past years.

Article 29(1) of Regulation (EC) No 2771/1999 stipulates that the entry into storage must take place between 15 March and 15 August. The current situation on the butter market justifies bringing the entry date for butter and cream storage operations in 2005 forward to 1 March. Consequently a derogation from that Article should be introduced.

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Milk and Milk Products,