German Agriculture Minister Julia Klöckner does not rule out buying up large stocks of unsold veal and pork, but not at this moment. State subsidies to store unsold meat are an option but are not planned immediately.
Now that demand for meat will be higher in the period before Christmas, the German minister called government intervention “too early at this moment. Mid-January would be a suitable time, as demand is then probably weak,” she said in a video conference with German agricultural organizations.
The German meat industry is currently facing a surplus of about 600,000 slaughter-ready pigs, due to the loss of export orders and restrictions on slaughter capacity. This combines the effects of African Swine Fever and the earlier COVID-19 infections in German slaughterhouses.
Klöckner said she has asked the German Minister of Employment for more flexible application of the recently tightened labor regulations in slaughterhouses. On Friday, she called on slaughterhouses and meat packers to work on weekends and holidays to clear the backlog.
“The situation has been exacerbated due to corona-related restrictions on slaughter capacity across the EU,” Klöckner said at an online meeting of agricultural associations. Farmer associations complain that especially pigs must stay longer on farms, even though they are ready for sale, causing prices to fall.
A study earlier this year showed that one third of German pig farmers are considering quitting, especially if a culling is imposed. That research was conducted before exports stalled and before the German Bundestag adopted stricter environmental and labor laws.
An InterPIG report earlier already showed that housing costs in Germany will increase in the coming years. For example, within eight years farrowing pens must be converted to group housing, and within 15 years sows must be kept in free-range systems.