Tensions in EU pig sector as prices worsen

Tensions in the continental pig sector are beginning to show as prices continue to worsen.

In a letter to farms chief Phil Hogan yesterday, the European Livestock and Meat Trading Union called on Brussels to step up "technical dialogue" with Moscow to allow the re-entry of live pigs, pork fat, lard and offal.

Furthermore, key trading partners such as the United States, Australia, Brazil and China must repeal unjustified sanitary and phytosanitary barriers, says the union.

According to the European Livestock and Meat Trading Union, European Union producers have lost £3.5 billion since the Russian market was lost to exports of 800,000 tonnes of European Union pigmeat, including 350,000 tonnes of fat and by-products.

If Brussels and Moscow could agree a revision of existing EU-Russia veterinary certificates for African swine fever-relevant commodities it would allow resumption of trade in pigmeat fats, which are not covered by Russia's other embargo — it's geo-political ban on European United and United States farm products.