Brussels, 19/01/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has so far refused to meet the request made by a number of countries, including France, Slovenia and Belgium, to set up a high-level group to assess the pork meat situation. During the Special Agriculture Committee (SAC) on Monday 17 January, the Commission indicated that it was preparing a specific meeting for next April. This would be on the lines of an expanded pork subsidiary advisory committee. This group will also include representatives from the pork meat sector, in addition to other stakeholders and experts from the EU member states' management committee. The number of annual meetings this “expanded” group will hold has not yet been decided but it will certainly be one or two a year.
Given that the organisation of the pork meat market is not extensive, a decision was made not to set up this high-level group. According to some sources, setting up such a group could lead to expectations that certainly could not be met. The Commission points out that a high-level group had been set up for the milk sector because it was in crisis and because quotas will soon come to an end (2015). Organisation of the milk and milk products sector is therefore more complex.
Storage? Nevertheless, the situation of European pork producers has worsened: grain prices continue to rise. The dioxin crisis in Germany has made matters even worse. The problem is less a result of contamination (small number of threshold overshoots and few risks to the consumer, except in the daily consumption of large amounts) and more to do with market confidence. Another unofficial source indicated that pork meat prices had decreased by 17% in Germany. Storage measures may have to be envisaged but the Commission notes that nominal prices are not really low and this would make this market measure ineffective to some extent. Refunds are being ruled out because the EU remains competitive in the world pork meat market, which is also experiencing difficulties. During the SAC, France, Austria and Poland called for immediate market measures to be adopted. (L.C./transl.fl)