November 30, 2007

EU starts pork refunds today
 

EU announced refunds of US$45.8 per 100 kilogrammes for carcasses and cuts and US28.6/100kg for bellies to pork exporters plagued with declining profit margins, starting November 30.

The move came as the EU Management Committee for pork voted Thursday on a commission proposal for the refunds.

Production profit margins over feed costs have dropped substantially by 65 percent to 70 percent in 2007 compared to the previous five-year average, the EU said.

The weakening of the US dollar also reduced the competitiveness of European pork exports. This indicates that previous measures to aid storage costs have not been sufficient.

The Committee further agreed Thursday to close the EU Private Storage Aid scheme previously set up last month to ease market difficulties.

The scheme had been in place about a month. Storage aid was requested for

around 97,000 tonnes of pork; including 19,000 tonnes in Denmark; 18,000 tonnes in Spain; 15,000 tonnes in Italy and 12,500 tonnes in Germany.

Earlier this month, Britain's pig farmers reported loss of US$53.69 per pig they produce. The national association estimated the country's 1,400 pig farms were losing US$7.4 million a week.