September 25, 2008
Denmark facing critical shortage in pig supplies
A sharp decline in supplies of pigs to Danish slaughterhouses as politicians delayed farm expansion is said to have cost 1, 5000 slaughterhouse workers their jobs.
Although industry experts suggest there are various reasons for the shortage of swine such as a growing number of producers sending their pigs off to Germany for a better price and high feed costs, the finger is pointed squarely at the government.
According to swine producers' representatives, the Danish government must shoulder a large share of the blame because of its action towards irresponsible mismanagement which has caused applications for pig unit expansions to be delayed.
According to the Danish slaughterhouse workers union, the delays cannot be caused only by excessive bureaucracy in Denmark's environment laws and must be a deliberate ploy by politicians to peg swine production.
