In the press conference that Unión de Pagesos offered today at its headquarters in Lleida (Segrià) to take stock of the situation of the pig sector, the national responsible for this sector to the union, Rossend Saltiveri, has assessed that, despite the decline important price of pork from March due to the situation by Covidien-19 -see July 15 statement -, the 2020 market price has been positive -1.33 € / kg meat- although 1.2% lower compared to 2019.
Saltiveri has pointed out that the market prospects for 2021 are very different compared to last year: if 2020 started with a price close to € 1.50 / kg of meat, this year the price is around € 1.10 / kg of meat. The price of this year is conditioned by a series of uncertainties like the spread of African swine fever [PPA], international tensions, the evolution of Covidien-19, the increase in production costs and the beginning of the recovery of the pig sector in China; some uncertainties to which are added the difficulties what the Catalan farmer must face to comply with the Fertilization Decree.
A remarkable data for 2020, according to Interporc data up to September 2020, has been the 51% increase in exports to countries outside the European Union compared to 2019 (a total of 1,200 million tons exported), which is explained by the crisis in the pig sector in China due to African swine fever [PPA].
The expansion of European swine exports to cover the 30% drop in production that China is estimated to have suffered from 2018 to 2020 due to African swine fever [PPA] it has been translated into a period of bonanza for the Catalan pig sector. The last months of 2020, however, the various information already gave signs of recovery in Chinese production and that will surely translate into the market soon.
Europe has not escaped the effects of African swine fever either [PPA]: the sector remains concerned and in alert for the increase in imports of live animals in recent months, with the risk that this entails that it is an entry point for the PPA. It should also be borne in mind that Eastern European countries and other countries such as Belgium, during 2018 and 2019, and Germany, at this time, have had ASF outbreaks in wild boar. In the case of Germany, despite not detecting any positive in farm pigs, they have seen how a good part of the third countries where they exported have vetoed the trade that has caused that, since September 2020, the European Union has a excess German meat and pork products.
Another unquestionable factor that has conditioned the pig market in 2020 has been the consequences derived from the Covidien-19 pandemic, for example, the limitations on slaughter in European slaughterhouses, and the changes in consumption habits caused by restrictions to control the disease, especially with the closure of hotels, restaurants and cafeterias (HORECA channel).
Regarding farm management aspects, it should be noted that the farmer continues working to adapt to consumer demands and continues to invest significantly to improve animal welfare, to ensure food safety and to guarantee respect for the environment through compliance with various environmental measures.
Sometimes, however, it is the same administration that does not facilitate compliance with the regulations it approves. This is the case of Decree 153/2019, on the management of soil fertilization and livestock manure, whose compliance is very difficult for farmers due to delays in the administration itself: for example, the delay in the allocation of the reference Nitrogen it has not allowed the adaptation of manure management plans and the presentation of individual plans in the case of farmers that were included in joint plans; or, the requirements established for the verification of the rafts make compliance with this obligation very difficult and expensive. To resolve these reefs and others and guarantee a regulation that can be efficiently translated into reality, Unió de Pagesos asks the Government to work on the modification of the Fertilization Decree as well as in the Decree of Livestock Management, suffering from the same problem.
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