EU pigmeat private storage scheme aid in January or February

As European pig markets continue to slide, taking prices in leading producer countries such as Germany and Belgium to an eight-year low, the European Commission has come under growing pressure from member states to immediately introduce a promised pigmeat private storage scheme.

The Commission said it is ready to activate the improved €28m Private Storage Aid scheme “when appropriate”, to ease over-supply.

The UK’s Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board predicts the scheme will be introduced in January or February, when continental pig prices are expected to be at their lowest, having benefited in the meantime from the seasonal pre-Christmas sales uplift.

Compared to the eight-week private storage scheme which ended in March, having temporarily removed 65,000 tonnes of pigmeat from the market (at a cost of about €18m), the new scheme will pay 20% higher storage rates to stimulate more take-up by processors, and will include fresh lard and some other fifth-quarter cuts which are in significant over-supply.