Pig meat prices have fallen dramatically since the African swine fever outbreak. Two large discount grocery stores have now launched special offers.
The interest group of pig farmers in Germany (ISN) has welcomed the special offers for pork from some grocery chains. “This is an acute temporary relief measure”, the managing director of the ISN, Torsten Staack, in Damme in Lower Saxony.
After an industry meeting with Federal Agriculture Minister Julia Klöckner (CDU) last week, Aldi and Lidl announced that they would use additional marketing campaigns to boost sales of pork from Germany.
The reason for this is the extremely low producer prices that pig farmers get for their slaughtered cattle. According to Staack, the slaughter price is currently 1.25 euros per kilo on average. “The fatteners are currently making a loss of 60 to 70 euros with every pig,” said Staack.
The cold stores are full
After the outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) in Germany, many international sales markets for German pig farmers collapsed, especially the lucrative Chinese market. In addition, sales in Germany are lame because, due to the corona pandemic, there is still less consumption in the catering trade and due to the lack of major events.
At the beginning of the year there was a big “pig jam”, the slaughterhouses could only slowly reduce the number of animals for slaughter. Large quantities of pork are now stored in cold stores. It is about reducing these meat stocks through special offers, said Staack. “In Germany, that’s about the price.”
This is not in contradiction to the tractor protests by farmers at the beginning of the year. At that time, farmers in many places across Germany blocked grocery chain stores to protest against dumping prices. In both cases, the farmers want to get an economically viable price for their products, said Staack.
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
