The government will implement a ” emergency plan “ of 270 million euros to support the treasuries of pig farmers, weakened by the double effect of the surge in their costs and the fall in prices, announced Monday, January 31 the Minister of Agriculture, Julien Denormandie.
“On the one hand you have charges which are increasing and on the other hand you have prices which are falling, which are deeply weakened. This scissor effect, as it is called, leads to an absolutely worrying situation for many pig farms”, said the Minister. It is “consolidate the cash flow of our pig farmers”, added Julien Denormandie after a meeting with professionals in the sector, who had been mobilizing for several weeks, particularly in Brittany, the main producing region.
the « plan » of the executive has a first component which must be “paid in the next few weeks” : a “emergency aid of 75 million euros” for cash-strapped breeders – “I am thinking of young farmers who sometimes have significant debts”, said the minister.
Exemptions from charges
A second more significant part, of 175 million, should intervene later, once obtained the approval of the European Union. The aim is that this aid “can arrive in the farmyards from the course of April, at the latest at the beginning of May”. Finally, producers will benefit from exemptions from charges of up to 20 million euros.
The Minister has repeatedly considered that this was a “unprecedented crisis”, “From memory, this is probably one of the most serious crises experienced by the pig sector for many years now”. Last week, the pork association Inaporc called for a “urgent state support”, to mop up the few “440 million euros in losses” suffered by farmers in the sector in one year.
In question, the slump in pork prices, but above all the jump in production costs (animal feed, energy). The interprofession estimates that breeders are currently losing between 25 and 30 euros per pig raised “and many of them are giving up their pig production or considering doing so”.