Brussels, 04/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - Applications for private storage aid for pigmeat may be submitted from 4 January 2016. The scheme will now extend to bacon, in addition to the categories of product covered in March (half carcasses, hams, shoulder, pork loin, belly and centre cuts), under the terms of a European Commission regulation approved by member state experts on 1 December.
Sweden voted against, taking the view that this measure causes market distortion, while Germany and Slovakia abstained.
The proposed aid, for periods of 90, 120 and 150 days, is 20% higher than that set in March. For bacon, it ranges from €168 to €182 per tonne, depending on the length of storage time. If, after a minimum period of two months, the product is withdrawn from storage earlier than scheduled in order to be exported, the aid will be reduced by a fixed sum, for example, by €0.24 per tonne per day for bacon. Applications must be for quantities of at least 10 tonnes for boned products and 15 tonnes for the others.
EU agricultural and cooperative organisations, Copa-Cogeca, called at the end of November for the Commission to trigger private storage of pork “no later than the start of December” and to include fats, bacon and offal, and for no penalties to be imposed if products were withdrawn from storage for export. The Commission turned a deaf ear to these calls. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)