Export refunds requested

EU support for pork

In view of the crisis on the EU pig market, with revenues no longer covering costs, the EU Commission in Brussels decided on market support measures: First, they decided on subsidies for private storage, then export refunds were granted for unprocessed meat. Both measures met with great interest from pork suppliers. At least for those outside of Germany.

The private storage (PLH) of pork has now been completed. According to the EU Commission, applications for around 101.500 tons were made across Europe; but as of February 13, there were only about 90.770 tons of contracts. The actual storage quantity at the end of January was only 22.600 tons across the EU, so that even larger quantities of pork had to be taken off the market in February.

As with the last measure a year ago, three quarters of the contracts were concluded for a period of five months. If goods can be delivered to a third country, earlier outsourcing is possible. In contrast to the other EU countries, Germany, as in 2003, preferred the shorter storage period of three months, which accounts for around half of the storage volume. Overall, a good 11.000 tons of pork can be expected to be withdrawn from the market in this country. By far the largest quantities in the PLH are in Denmark with almost 40.000 tons. The Netherlands, Italy, France and Spain follow, where between 9.000 and 7.500 tons are stored. In this year's PLH campaign, around 20.000 tons less pork were contracted than in 2003.

Export refunds replaced private storage

At the end of January, a “run” on the granting of export refunds began in the European Union. From January 26 to February 8, claims were made for 37.950 tons of pork in a two-week period. In the previous seven months, it had only been 36.870 tons, but only processed goods were eligible for refunds during this period.

By far the greatest interest in the new reimbursement for carcasses and cuts was in Denmark, which alone accounted for a good 60 percent of the EU applications. The background is that Japan has a greater import requirement for pork due to the bird flu and deliveries from Denmark have increased noticeably in recent weeks. Non-traditional cuts, for which there were export subsidies, were also increasingly being exported. However, the EU Commission has now put a stop to export refunds for business with Japan. Refunds are no longer available for this destination after February 16th.

In Germany, interest in export refunds has so far been comparatively low: in the period from January 26 to February 8, 2004, applications were only made for a good 1.250 tons; According to reports, exports to Switzerland in particular benefited from the refunds. The interest in Austria, France and, surprisingly, in Finland was somewhat stronger than in Germany.

Source: Bonn [ZmP]