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Speaking at the press conference that took place following the meeting of EU agriculture ministers in Brussels on Monday 14 March, Commissioner Hogan said he will introduce a new APS scheme for pig producers in 2016, but added that details of the scheme, including the timing of its introduction, will have to be confirmed.
On the timing aspect, the Commissioner said this was a “notable factor” for consideration, as the price for pigmeat fluctuates on a seasonal basis.
“It is important, therefore, that we don’t introduce a scheme which results in a very significant volume of product being released into the market at a time when prices are seasonally at their lowest,” Hogan said.
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Speaking exclusively to the Irish Farmers Journal later in the day, outgoing Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney said the Commissioner’s commitment to the new scheme for pig producers is “welcome”.
A number of member states, including Ireland, had been calling for the reintroduction of this scheme prior to Monday’s council meeting.
The scheme was last open in January 2016 for three weeks and uptake was high. By the time the scheme closed, some 90,000t had been taken off the market at a cost of €28m.
Other supports for pigmeat proposed at the meeting in Brussels included the establishment of a Meat Market Observatory covering beef and pigmeat.
Similar to the Milk Market Observatory, it is hoped that the two meat sectors will benefit from the information and market analysis provided by such a tool.
Hogan also promised to increase the €30m marketing allocation for dairy and pigmeat, as proposed in last September’s solidarity package, to more actively promote consumption of these products on the global market.
However, the Commissioner added that it was hard to see any movement on the Russian ban on western food products taking place any time soon.
"[Russian] President Vladimir Putin is not in the mood to be discussing the lifting of the ban at this time," he said.
Reaction
Although he welcomed these new proposals for pigmeat, Irish Cattle and Sheep Association president Patrick Kent said producers need "greater recognition of the impact that the Russian ban on pigmeat is having not just on the pig sector but in terms of knock on impact on beef price in EU markets due to excess pigmeat supplies here."
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