The European Union will receive government subsidies to support pork exports. The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) responds that the subsidies will undermine the U.S. pork industry.
The subsidy, ?31.10 ($46 USD) per 100kg carcass, is valid on approximately 97,000 tonnes of pigmeat and is being implemented to compensate for high feed costs in the European pork sector. The majority of EU member states voted for the proposal with Denmark, Sweden and Italy voting against. The Dutch Association for Pig Producers (LTO) welcomed the decision.
NPPC responded quickly to the announcement. "The EU subsidies are a direct blow to U.S. pork producers," said NPPC President Jill Appell, a producer from Altona, Ill. "Our profitability is increasingly dependent on our exports. The EU subsidies undermine the U.S. pork industry’s hard-earned export sales and will unfairly shift financial pain to our producers."
The EU’s action, said NPPC, highlights the need to eliminate EU agricultural export subsidies, including those for pork, as a part of the WTO Doha Round negotiations. NPPC has stated many times that the U.S. pork industry only will support a Doha Round agreement if it results in the complete elimination of export subsidies and provides major market access gains for U.S. pork in the EU and other key markets around the world.