The new private storage aid (PSA) for pigmeat, announced as part of last week’s £365m EU support package for farming, is expected to be bigger and better than the PSA scheme which ran earlier this year.
According to a report on the National Pig Association (NPA) website, the new plan, which Is still in discussion in Brussels, will include more attractive payment rates and will cover items such as fats and lard which weren’t in the first 2015 scheme.
The earlier scheme was widely criticised for succeeding in taking just 65,000 tonnes of product off the market, with no scope to offer help regarding fats and lard, the market sector most fiercely hit by the Russian phytosanitary ban on EU supplies, dating from early 2014.
In addition, with EU farm ministers due to hold an informal meeting in Luxembourg tomorrow, Europe’s farming leaders are seeking to keep the pressure on the European Commission to deliver quickly on its £365m plan.
Operating under a campaign slogan of “No farmers, No food, No future”‘ Copa – Cogeca Secretary-General, Pekka Pesonen, said his members remained “disappointed” that there was still no talk of export credit insurance for the EU beef, pork and milk markets.
He also reminded ministers heading for Luxembourg that over 6000 farmers had been in Brussels a week ago, showing their distress at current conditions.
That, he added, should be heeded as a “wake-up call” ahead of tomorrow’s meeting.