Dan Neville
Question:50 Mr. Neville asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the proposals, if any, he has to alleviate the extreme difficulties experienced by pig farmers. [16871/99]
Written Answers. - Pigmeat Sector.
There has been improvement in pig producer incomes since the beginning of the year, with Irish pigmeat prices increasing by nearly 9 per cent. This increase has also been reflected throughout the Community, and the EU Commission has indicated recently that it expects this trend to continue. This forecast is based on decreasing pig slaughterings for the rest of the year, which will help to drive up pigmeat prices, given the cutback on supplies.
Since the market difficulties first began to have effect, I have taken action on a number of fronts. With regard to export refunds, I, along with my colleagues from other member states, secured substantial increases, ranging from 33 per cent to 80 per cent, from the EU Commission on four occasions last year and again in February of this year.
I also secured agreement from the EU Commission for the introduction of a scheme of aids to private storage, under which EU funding is provided for the storage of pigmeat for a maximum period of six months. The scheme is still running and to date over 328,000 tonnes of pigmeat have been temporarily taken off the Community market.
At the end of last year, the Council of Agriculture Ministers decided on a food-aid package for Russia, which includes 100,000 tonnes of pigmeat. This package, which is still ongoing, will, when concluded, have a positive effect on the market.
An Bord Bia launched an extensive promotional campaign for bacon earlier this year. This campaign was aimed at the consumer who was encouraged to buy quality assured bacon. The campaign helped sales thus improving the market.
Since the start of the problems in the pigmeat sector, I have been in regular contact with the organisations representing both the production and processing side of the industry. In addition, towards the end of last year I called in representatives of the banking organisations and the pigfeed providers who gave an assurance that every possible support would be given to their clients operating in the pig sector. The banking organisations repeated this assurance once again following a further meeting which took place earlier this year.
Nothwithstanding the present upward trend in pigmeat prices, I will continue to ensure that the EU Commission makes maximum use of export refunds and aids to private storage to assist the pigmeat market. I will also continue to press the EU Commission to introduce additional measures aimed at creating a better balance in the sector and thus a more stable environment for pig producers.