NPA warns of threat to pig farmers post-Brexit
© View Pictures/REX/ Shutterstock The National Pig Association (NPA) says pig farmers could see their businesses decimated by cheap imports if the government presses on with a free-trade agenda once the UK leaves the European Union.
The organisation asserts that, with EU import tariffs currently set at £4.50/kg for imported pig carcasses and even more for cuts, any move to significantly reduce them under new trade deals would “open the door to large volumes of lower standard pigmeat” from third countries.
See also: Farming at risk of being sidelined in Brexit trade talks
NPA policy services manager Lizzie Wilson said: “Countries like the US, Canada and Brazil are able to produce pigmeat at a much lower cost because they have lower animal welfare and environmental standards.
“We are adamant that the government must not put a desire for cheap food ahead of the need to shore up the UK’s self-sufficiency in food, which has already declined alarmingly over the past few decades.”
The NPA says it is concerned by recent comments from a number of senior ministers – including international trade secretary Liam Fox – about developing new global trading relationships based on free trade and lower tariffs.
Equally, it fears that, outside the EU, pig producers could be faced with tariffs to access European markets, with sow carcass shipments to Germany especially threatened.
Priorities
The association has therefore written to Defra secretary Andrea Leadsom, setting out its post-Brexit priorities.
These include:
- Equivalent standards of production to be built into any new trade agreements
- UK pigmeat to be granted protected status, to control the volume of tariff-free imports
- Grant funding and tax relief to encourage infrastructure improvements
- Support for pig farmers to deliver public goods such as reduced antibiotics use
- Increased efforts by Defra to keep animal diseases out of the country
- Simple procedures for EU citizens to come and work in the pig industry
- Help in trying to extend export markets for British pigmeat
Mrs Wilson said: “The UK pig industry is worth £1.2bn at the farmgate and £7.5bn in total.
“It is a vital sector of the UK economy with good stories to tell in terms of growing export volumes and animal welfare standards.”
Last year the UK produced 899,000t of pigmeat, of which just over 25% was exported, worth £350m.