Brussels, 05/04/2011 (Agence Europe) - COPA (Committee of Professional Agricultural Organisations of the EU) and COGECA (General Confederation of Agricultural Cooperatives of the EU) have welcomed the latest measures, such as private storage, taken to help the pig meat sector but call for still more “to improve the long-term situation”, according to a press release published on Friday 1 April.
Feed costs have increased sharply recently, hitting producers hard as these account for between 60% and 65% of total production costs. Producers have been “squeezed by high input costs and low prices”, the organisations say. The Commission decision to temporarily open private storage aid for pig meat helped to “relieve the difficult market situation in the short term, as excess supplies were taken off the market”. Prices picked up slightly in the main pig meat producing countries. The first meat will come out of storage in May and “now we need to ensure that the stored meat will be exported once it is put back on the market, in order to prevent prices from dropping again”, say COPA and COGECA.
The two organisations are glad that the EU recently agreed on new Community rules to allow imports into the EU of animal feed with traces of unauthorised genetically modified materials up to a limit of 0.1%. “We worked hard to ensure this was introduced and it is a step in the right direction. Without it, feed prices would have risen further, costing EU farmers hundreds of millions of euros”.
COPA and COGECA also welcome the proposal to lift the ban on feeding animal meal to non-ruminants, such as pigs, thereby allowing the EU to reduce its dependence on imported soybean. COPA-COGECA Secretary-General Pekka Pesonen has called for current tools to manage the pig meat market to be “maintained and strengthened” in order to improve the situation in the longer term. Pig meat also needs to be promoted better in EU and non-EU markets. In addition, the position of farmers in the food chain needs to be reinforced, given the huge buying power of supermarkets. He says, too, that the EU must enforce existing legislation to prevent and penalise anti-competitive practices. “Farmers must also be rewarded for their commitment to ensuring high environmental, welfare and food safety standards and this must be reflected in the final price”, Pesonen argues, noting that “a new study by COPA-COGECA on an agreement in the trade liberalising talks between the EU and the Latin American Trade Bloc Mercosur shows it would have a devastating impact on the EU agriculture sector and cause a huge rise in pork imports which do not meet the EU's standards”. (L.C./transl.rt)