Brussels, 19/03/2009 (Agence Europe) - The European pig meat sector has been in the throes of a crisis for the past year and a half, and Copa (Committee of Professional Agricultural Organisations) and Cogeca (General Committee for Agricultural Cooperation in the European Union) are calling for the urgent re-introduction of export refunds for pig meat and hope that this will be done at the meeting of the Management Committee on Thursday 19 March, they say in a press release.
“Prices for pig meat have been falling considerably for some time now. Between December last year and February 2009, they went down by around 10 % on average. At the same time, our main competitors' currencies have fallen heavily against the euro, further aggravating an already bad situation. It is essential that the EU take urgent action to stabilise the market,” said Pekka Pesonen, Secretary General of Copa-Cogeca. He went on to add that Russia had effectively closed its market to EU pig meat. It was crucial, therefore, that export refunds can be used as a tool for maintaining export levels in other key markets such as Japan and Hong Kong. (L.C./transl.rt)