It is supplied mainly for processing, from the EU, where pork prices have fallen due to the African plague and the blockade of German sales in China.
Analysts predict that 2020 will be the year of the fall in world demand for meat, for the first time in many decades. In the middle of the year, estimates showed that due to the pandemic, meat consumption in the world would fall by three percent per capita.
Proof of that is already the reduced profits of the industry, but also the decline in the production of animal feed, while we will have to wait for the final results on the impact of the corona virus on the menus by the end of the year and the reduction of consumption statistics.
The European Federation of Animal Feed Producers (FEFAC) recently announced that it will reduce the production of feed mixtures in the European Union by 2.2 percent due to the spread of animal diseases, corona virus and changes in the demand for animal products. This, they say, will happen due to the fall in demand for more expensive categories of meat, and even dairy products, because cattle breeders have reduced the use of mixtures in order to reduce milk production, but also slow down the growth and fattening of animals, reports “Agroklub”. Due to the closure of catering facilities, the drop in demand at the world level has endangered cattle breeding the most, which is the case in Serbia as well, and the reduction in food production will be 2.9 percent. Pig farming is somewhat less endangered because a drop of 1.1 percent is expected in this sector, and the cause of the reduction in food production is the spread of the African swine fever and China’s decision to block the import of pork from Germany.
Breeders predict a reduction in pork purchases, stockpiling and declining demand for animal feed. Poultry feed production, after many years of growth, will decrease by 2.7 percent in 2020, not only due to Covid 19 but also due to the spread of bird flu, which is already registered in 15 European countries.
As Nenad Budimovic, secretary of the Association for Animal Husbandry and Processing of Livestock Products in the Serbian Chamber of Commerce (SCC), told “Politika”, meat consumption in Serbia has decreased, but it is not yet symptomatic. This is partly a consequence of the reduced volume of work in the hospitality industry. As for the population itself, he believes that these changes are not so great.
– The industry has withstood all the strong blows in the last nine months. She maintained production and placement, we had no shortages in the shops. That deserves attention. That is why it is necessary to understand its significance and keep it from going into negative balances. Primarily to maintain production and not allow the dismissal of workers in that sector – says Budimovic and adds that our production of animal feed is good in production and export, and that we have not had large oscillations in the number of heads in the last year. However, a major challenge is foreign trade.
– At the moment when, due to the African swine fever, the export of pork from Germany to China stopped, a market surplus appeared in the EU and thus the price was lower. That is why we have an increased import of pork in Serbia by 10 to 12 percent compared to the same period last year – our interlocutor points out.
According to PKS data, the total export of meat and meat products in the first nine months of 2020 was worth 67.5 million euros, and imports 116 million euros. Due to various circumstances related to the pandemic in the same period, we exported only 570 tons of pork (or about a million euros), and imported 44.5 million euros (16,600 tons), mostly from Spain, Germany, the Netherlands…
– It is all very important for our industry. Primary production is declining. Meat is imported mainly for processing. We are only in the black when it comes to durable and semi-durable products. But we continue to import more expensive, and we export cheaper products – Budimovic explains.
He expects that some of the proposals that were recently presented at the session of the board of the Association for Livestock of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce will be accepted.
As he says, among other things, it is necessary to maximally activate exports to distant markets, “no matter how abstract it seems to us.”
– As far as the EU is concerned, to renew at least the markets of Italy and Greece for our baby beef. Incentives for exports are also needed, we just need to find a system and a model, and defend it with arguments – says our interlocutor.
As he explains, these do not have to be direct payments, but can be reliefs through, say, taxes. It was also concluded that the price of the half on the slaughter line should be formed according to the quality of the carcasses, according to the percentage of meat, because our businessmen often say that they import because there are not enough good goods.
– In any case, livestock should be kept in primary production because this pandemic has shown that the one who can produce will survive – says Nenad Budimovic, Politika reports.
