Vol. 439 No. 1
42 Mr. B. Smith asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if he will respond positively to a request made to his Department to provide assistance to family farm pig units in view of the losses incurred during 1993 and the continuing losses which are threatening the survival of these units.
The underlying cause of low pigmeat prices in Ireland and in other EU member states is over-production in the Union as a whole which is currently around 105 per cent self-sufficient in pigmeat.
The EU market of pigmeat is subject to a common organisation. Accordingly, the responsibility for market management and for any special measures rests with the EU. It is not legally possible to take national measures without EU agreement.
The difficulties being experienced by Irish pig producers have been raised by me at the Council of Ministers on a number of occasions and at a special meeting which I sought with Commissioner Steichen last month. The difficulties in the pigmeat sector have also been taken up by my Department with the Commission on numerous occasions.
In response to these requests from Ireland, and to requests from other member states, the Commission has taken a series of market support measures: 70,000 tonnes of pigmeat was temporarily removed from the market through a scheme of aids to private storage introduced in March 1993; sales of 60,000 tonnes of pigmeat to Eastern Europe were made possible through special export refunds schemes introduced in May and September 1993; and a further special export refunds scheme has just been introduced under which 40,000 tonnes of pigmeat will be sold to Eastern Europe in the coming months.
In addition, the situation was further improved by the removal, partly funded by the EU budget, from the market of one million pigs due to outbreaks of classical swine fever in Germany and Belgium towards the end of 1993.
I will continue to monitor the market situation and will raise at EU level the need for further action as appropriate.
