2023-08-10 07:27:12
“The slaughterhouses claim that the situation is unsustainable”. He explained it Miquel Ángel Bergés, director of Mercat Porcí de Mercollida, the market of reference in the sector, in a comment at the beginning of August after the price of pork reached historical highs for more than four months. A week later, the price of live pigs fell by 1.8 cents per kilo, but the situation of the large slaughterhouses has not changed. “There are few pigs to kill, and some facilities have adjusted shifts or even stopped slaughtering one day a week,” explains a manager in the sector who prefers to remain anonymous.
The truth is that the reference price in Spain is by far the highest in the world. Despite the complaints of the slaughterhouses, the farmers say that they do not have any pigs left over, which is why they do not understand that the price should go down.
Today, the pork table will meet again in Mercolleida, which will have to confirm whether the downward trend in prices is confirmed following the trend of the large European markets, where prices are falling. The fixing of the price depends on the negotiation of sixteen large producers and slaughterhouses, among which there are two of the Girona meat giants, Costa Brava Mediterranean Foods and Noel Alimentaria.
High costs
Unió de Pagesos celebrates that the price of pork remains at its maximum, but remembers that the consumption of pork has decreased, which is attributed to the increase in the CPI and the loss of purchasing power of the consumer. Likewise, the union warns that the farmer must face production costs such as energy, raw materials, among others, which continue to be high.
Union of Farmers has asked, both the Ministry of Agriculture and the Department of Climate Action, to apply the necessary measures to reduce the population of wild pigs because they play an important role in transmitting the african swine fever. The union also demands that passive surveillance measures for the disease be reinforced to minimize the risk of it entering the territory, after it has already reached 13 European countries.
Although the union is very clear that it is necessary to maintain biosecurity measures on farms, it also points out that transporters should be made aware of the importance of disinfecting vehicles transporting animals, feed, among others.
In addition, UP insists on the importance of regionalization, that is, of establishing agreements with third countries under which, in the event that the plague is declared in the State, it would be possible to market products from areas free of the disease .
Investments in animal welfare
Unió de Pagesos points out that to the investments to adapt to the livestock management and emissions regulations of recent years, those of Royal Decree 159/2023 on new animal welfare measures have been added. These stipulate, among other aspects, that farms must have more free space for animals (14% more on average) before April 2025. Since these investments are borne by the owner of the farmUP asks for the integrated farmers that the price of the integration compensates for the investment expenditure that they have to assume.
So that it is not an insurmountable obstacle, the union urges the administration to guarantee that the farmer can, at least, maintain the productive capacity of his farm and to facilitate possible expansions that he must undertake to comply with the regulations.
As a positive point, UP has celebrated that the implementation of the Annual Declaration of Industrial Waste (DARI) has been avoided, a management that would have meant more bureaucratic burden and the information that the government already has through waste managers .
Catalonia continues to be Spain’s main exporter (55.8%). Unió de Pagesos values that these export figures are achieved thanks to the status of a country free from mandatory declaration diseases and to the fact of offering quality meat and derivatives.
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