Poland acts to save its swine industry
The Polish authorities announced a series of measures for pig producers in the country who are facing big losses due to both the ASF and COVID-19 crisis. Financial assistance will be granted for pig farmers who have sows with piglets born between November 15, 2021, and March 31, 2022. The aid will be PLN 1,000 (€215) for a maximum of 10 piglets born per sow and up to a maximum of 5,000 piglets (500 sows). The estimated cost of this aid totals PLN 400 million (86 million euros). Applications must be submitted between April 1 and 30, 2022 and aid will be paid in June, announced the Ministry of Agriculture.
Currently, Poland is the fifth importer of pork in the EU, although the country was seen until recently as one of the major pork producers in the region. Due to the impact of ongoing outbreaks of African swine fever and the continuing negative effect of the COVID-19 pandemic the sector is at risk. The country imports 40% of the piglets used for farm restocking and many farmers have decided to close their operations. Last year, there were 104,000 pig farms operating in Poland but the number has decreased during the last 12 months, said Witold Choinski, president of the Polish Meat Union. Although losses have been recorded in small and medium-sized farms for the past three years, the situation has got worse in the past few months, as high production rates in other EU countries and export disruptions, high feed and energy prices have severely impacted the performance of the Polish swine industry. According to the Polish Union of Producers and Employers of the Meat Industry (UPEMI): "there has been a significant drop in prices paid for pigs; on the other, we evidenced a sharp increase in production costs".
"The consequence of this trend may be a permanent collapse of Polish pig production. Farmers who are eliminating herds today will probably not return to pig farming in the future. Thus, Poland will become even more dependent on pork imports. This will have a negative impact not only on farming business but also on processing plants," the Union said in a statement.
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