Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski no longer fundamentally opposes EU subsidies for private storage of excess pork. At the Agriculture Council early this week, Slovenia joined the 13 other EU countries that previously called for intervention in the pig market.
To assist the pig farming sector, the European Commissioner for Agriculture wants to explore whether measures can be taken at the European level that could address part of the marketing problems. In particular, the focus is on a private storage scheme for pork to temporarily remove pork from the market. Similar schemes already exist for beef, dairy, vegetables, and fruit.
At a press conference following the (closed) Agriculture Council, Wojciechowski said he wants to examine the possibilities of private storage. However, all effects of an intervention must first be investigated. The Agriculture Commissioner emphasized that the pig sector in Europe is particularly heterogeneous.
He pointed out that there are barely any large fluctuations or market disturbances, and although the pig price is low, it remains stable. He also warned of even lower prices if a frozen pork stockpile returns to the market in a few months.
The Agriculture Commissioner also noted that EU countries have very different structures. The average Romanian pig farmer keeps 4 pigs, while in Denmark that number is 3,700.
The fact that a majority of EU countries want to temporarily remove slaughtered pork from the market and store it in freezers does not necessarily mean that 'the' pig industry wants this. In fact, three major pork exporters, Germany and the Netherlands, have not called for such measures so far.
Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic (early last year), incomes have fallen to catastrophically low levels while costs have risen. The German pig industry ISN pointed out in a response that the current low prices are not due to extensive long-term slaughterhouse closures (corona) or reduced domestic consumption.
Several EU countries mainly attribute the situation to the loss of export destinations (China!) as a result of the expanding African Swine Fever in EU countries, causing an oversupply on European markets. Those countries believe that the EU and Central European countries must do much more to combat the spread of ASF.