“The situation is extremely uncertain, but the supply of food and drinks is secured,” said Katharina Koßdorff, Managing Director of the Food Industry Association in the Austrian Economic Chamber, on Friday at the foreign trade balance of Agrarmarkt Austria (AMA). The effects of the war in Ukraine played a major role in this.
Koßdorff emphasized that the cost pressure on the industry was increasing and spoke of a “historic wave of costs”: One reason is the high dependence of the food industry (8,200 companies, 27,000 employees, 9.5 billion euros in production volume) on gas (around ten percent of the industry total requirement).
If supply bottlenecks actually occur, food producers should be given preferential treatment in addition to private households and power plants due to their systemic importance, she said.
Price for fattening pigs increases
There is a lot going on on the world markets: agricultural products from the Ukraine are falling, which is reducing the supply. Countries like Hungary have introduced export restrictions, which Koßdorff described as “intervention in the free movement of goods”: “The drama is: If grain becomes more expensive, animal feed becomes more expensive. That causes meat prices to rise.” For fattening pigs, there was a price increase of 34 percent within a few days.
Koßdorff did not want to comment on how expensive it would be for consumers. You can’t honestly say that. Neither Russia nor the Ukraine play a major role in the domestic import and export statistics: Soya and oilseeds are imported from the Ukraine. The most important Russian import product is vodka. Spices and spice mixtures are exported.
2021 was a successful year for the agricultural and food industry: imports of 13.954 billion euros (up 9.3 percent) were offset by exports of 13.947 billion euros (up 9.4 percent).
As in previous years, the most important target country for agricultural products is Germany, said AMA Marketing Manager Michael Blass. The most important export products are beverages, milk products, sausage, ham and bacon products. (prel)
Source: Nachrichten
