News Pig market
Crisis consultation in Germany about low pig prices
In Germany, a crisis meeting will be held next Wednesday about the situation on the pig market. The initiative comes from agriculture minister Julia Klöckner, who calls on the entire top of the meat sector to enter into discussions.
The reason for this is the low pig prices in Germany. The leading VEZG quotation is currently at €1,25 per kilo, which is extremely low. Insiders speak of the biggest crisis in 30 years. A negative smoke hangs over the full width of the market. Due to outbreaks of African swine fever, slaughterhouses are faced with export bans to Asia, resulting in overcrowded cold stores. Pig farmers, in turn, have a hard time getting rid of the pigs.
Temporary or structural problem?
Klöckner wants to know from the sector whether it is a temporary problem or whether the situation is structural. She also wants to gauge which support measures are needed to turn the tide. Klöckner also wants to brainstorm how AVP-free zones can regain access to the export markets outside Europe. In addition to representatives from the meat sector, retail buyers and state ministers are also attending the party.
It is possible that Klöckner himself will bring up the idea next week to open up the private storage scheme for pork, as was the case at the beginning of this year. With such a storage measure, market parties (such as slaughterhouses) receive a compensation to temporarily store pork in order to relieve the market. However, these measures also have drawbacks, because the meat stocks do not disappear from the market.
Shrinkage in pigs
At the beginning of this week, crisis consultations were already held under the leadership of Barbara Otte-Kinast, the agriculture minister of Lower Saxony. The problems are particularly acute in its federal state, and also in North Rhine-Westphalia. She alludes to a decline in the number of pigs, given the lack of sales. This ruling sparked anger from the advocate ISN, who reflected that the number of pig and sow farmers in Germany has been declining rapidly since the corona crisis.
Wouter Job
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