January 19, 2007

French pig producers say grading system too costly

French pig producers are protesting against a new carcass grading system in the North and West of France, claiming they would incur losses in the new system.

The National Pig Producers' Organisation (ONEP), is calling for the suspension of the new system, which is based on muscle coverage per piece (TMP).

The ONEP says this could result in price cuts of over EUR 0.08 per kg.

These price cuts would mean losses of between approximately EUR 15,000 and EUR35,000 a year for a farm having 200 sows, amounting to nearly EUR70 million in total for the Uniporc West region.

The organisation said producers are already suffering from low market prices and rising feed costs and the system adds a further burden.