Brussels acts to boost pig prices and cut feed costs

Pig market managers in Brussels are to shelve the private storage aid scheme they introduced last month and replace it with export refunds in an attempt to shore up depressed pig prices.

And, in a separate move, the EU Commission has announced plans to suspend import duties on all cereals except oats, to help ease the pressure on grain markets and so reduce feed costs.

Announcing the move on pigmeat, commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said export refunds were now needed to “respond to the difficult market situation”.

While the private storage aid scheme had temporarily taken 85,000t of pigmeat off the market in Europe and helped stabilise prices, margins over feed costs were still 65%-70% down on 2002-2006 levels.

The sharp drop in the value of the US dollar had also hit the competitiveness of EU exports against US, Canadian and Brazilian suppliers. “The private storage measure appears insufficient to remedy the difficulties faced by European pig producers.”

Ulster Farmers Union pork and bacon chairman Raymond Pogue said the move was essential to help offset the dramatic rise in pig production costs and the recent 8p/kg fall in producer prices. “This position is simply unsustainable,” he said.

On the proposal to suspend cereal import duties, Mrs Fischer Boel pointed out that they were already “rather low”. For example, for rye, sorghum and maize they were set at zero, while for feed wheat they came to €12/t (£8.50) and for barley €16/t (£11.30).

But import duties still affected the overall balance of the EU grain market and she hoped the move to suspend import duties – likely to be approved by EU farm ministers on 18 December – would take the sting out of this year’s record prices.