Danish Crown supports the government’s ambition for better animal welfare and increased value creation in pig production. However, higher demands for welfare and production result in higher prices, and the plan can only succeed if customers are willing to pay for the products.
The government has set up a four-party group to discuss the future of Danish pig production. Danish Crown is represented by the Confederation of Danish Industry and is entering the work with an ambition to contribute to better animal welfare. However, Danish Crown will also insist that there must also be a market for future pig production.
“We must improve the animal welfare of pigs and at the same time ensure that it continues to be profitable to produce food in Denmark. We have a strong food industry that creates many important jobs in rural areas. That is how it should remain,” says Group CEO of Danish Crown, Niels Ulrich Duedahl, and elaborates:
“That’s why we’re entering the four-party process with the clear premise that the transition must take place with a view to ensuring that there is also a willingness to pay on the consumer side. We’re concerned that costs may increase more than consumers are willing to pay. And if Danish-produced meat is simply replaced by cheaper foreign meat, we haven’t reached our goal. That’s why we need to include demand in the negotiations, not just the requirements for production,” he says.
Today, Danish Crown slaughters approximately 175,000 pigs from Danish cooperative owners per week. Around 5,000 of these are so-called welfare pigs such as Friland, Antonius and Bornholmergrisen. The figures show how large a market needs to be developed if production with higher animal welfare is to take up significantly more space.
This requires the entire value chain to buy into the ambitions. Danish Crown is therefore pleased that Dansk Erhverv represents the supermarkets in the four-party. Supermarkets have an important role in getting the products to consumers and creating space for them in the refrigerated counter.
Ambition for more refinement
According to the government, a larger proportion of the pigs will be turned into processed foods such as spareribs, pulled pork and cold cuts. This ambition is supported by Danish Crown, which already has a large processing production in Denmark, resulting in several thousand jobs.
“Danish Crown agrees that we must value-add significantly more meat from Danish farmers and move higher up the value chain. However, the focus on the Danish market cannot stand alone. Danish Crown sells a large part of its food products outside Denmark, and demand in export markets is crucial to whether the company can sell the whole pig at a price that makes it possible to slaughter and process more pigs here,” says Niels Ulrich Duedahl.
He also points out that Danish Crown shares the politicians’ ambitions for clean drinking water, more life in inland Danish waters and better animal welfare. However, the new requirements must be introduced at a pace that allows farmers and companies to invest and adapt, he emphasizes.
“If the transition goes faster than farms and slaughterhouses can keep up, we risk moving jobs abroad and getting foreign meat with poorer animal welfare in Danish refrigerated counters,” says Niels Ulrich Duedahl.
