Memorandum submitted by Provision Trade
Federation (Pigs 09)
ENGLISH PIG
INDUSTRY INQUIRY
Provision Trade Federation membership includes,
inter alia, suppliers and processors of over 90% of bacon
on the UK market which is mainly imported from other Member States.
But PTF does not favour the interests of any particular nationality
over others. We believe in fair play and free trade.
We are submitting this memorandum in the hope
that the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee will bear
the free market in mind when undertaking this inquiry. We must
emphasise that we are deeply concerned about the poor state of
the UK pig industry not least because it reduces competition for
pigmeat products on the UK market. Competition is healthy for
all parts of the chain from farmer to consumer.
For well over a century, imported bacon has
represented an important segment of the UK market particularly
in the case of products from Denmark and the Netherlands. Indeed,
imports are essential in order to meet market demand. We cannot
envisage a market without bacon of Dutch and Danish origin. In
addition, Dutch and Danish-owned businesses have invested heavily
in the UK where they own a major proportion of the slaughtering
capacity and processing. Thus they contribute significantly to
employment and the economy in the UK.
We have been concerned by the use of negative
publicity campaigns regarding imports, generated over the past
few years, as a strategy designed to gain commercial advantage
for UK production. We believe such initiatives to be detrimental
to the market as a whole, regardless of country of origin, and
they are as damaging for the generators of the publicity as for
the competition. In other words, they do not sell more bacon.
On the question of welfare standards, it is
undoubtedly true that national legislation has added additional
costs to British producers not experienced by producers in other
EU countries. A good example is the unilateral ban on confinement
of sows during pregnancy, which was implemented in January 1999.
However, it is also fair to point out that in
several EU countries, national legislation also exceeds the minimum
pig welfare standards laid down by EU Directives. It is also relevant
to highlight that legislation in the area of food safety and the
environment has added significant costs to pig producers in other
EU countries, which are not currently being experienced by producers
here.
In the past, UK farmers have suffered discrimination
against their products by other Member States. The French ban
on imports of British beef long after the BSE crisis is a prominent
example. Just as we expect legitimate trade in UK products throughout
the rest of Europe, so must we allow the same for products entering
our national market from other Member States.
September 2008
| 
