Minister rebuts Sant`s claim that pork industry is in jeopardy

Opposition Leader Alfred Sant warned yesterday that government policies meant Malta`s pork industry had no future beyond three more years.

Dr Sant said the removal of levies was threatening the industry and went against the interests of both the consumer and the producer.

A future Labour government would tell the EU that the situation was not acceptable and would reverse it to protect the pig industry.

While retaining reasonable protection for the industry, a Labour government would invest in it to improve it over a period of time.

Dr Sant was speaking during a visit yesterday to the Sun Valley Pig Farm, a pig multiplier unit, in the limits of Burmarrad. He was accompanied by MLP spokesman for the economy Leo Brincat.

There are three such pig breeding stations, which sell their pigs to commercial producers.

Dr Sant said that when levies on port imports were removed, subsidies to pig breeders would be financed by consumers through heavier taxation.

The reduction in consumer prices would be counterbalanced by tax increases and on balance, it would be a case of the consumer gaining Lm1 to lose Lm5.

Even with the levies still in force, ham was already being imported and consumers were already choosing the foreign product. When the levies were removed, local ham producers would sell even less and their businesses would no longer be viable.

Malta has around 180 farms, breeding around 9,000 pigs and employing up to 300 workers.

Farmer Ray Giordimaina expressed his concern about the future of the industry. EU membership would also have an impact on the way pig farmers operated in Malta, he said.

The hefty investment required to restructure the industry to be able to compete with the foreign product was not feasible since the market would be reduced because of imports, said the farm`s technical consultant, Sammy Vella.

He said economies of scale would continue to deteriorate until it would be no longer viable to continue operating in the field due to direct competition with the foreign product.

Producers would find a means to just import the cuts they needed, meaning that two-thirds of the pork production would be threatened.

The Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday that the pork industry would be assisted financially to the tune of Lm6 million during the three and a half years during which levies protecting the industry would be gradually lifted.

In a statement, the ministry said that the assistance would continue up till 2013, apart from assistance of a permanent nature under the plan for rural development according to the agricultural policy of the EU.

This assistance would mean a reduction in the consumer price of pork products and assistance to breeders and to processors to upgrade their operation.

During the past weeks, the ministry commissioned an expert to draw up plans on an individual basis for pork processors.

These plans pointed out which changes each processor needed to undertake in order to be able to improve his plant. The government would be helping processors financially to reach the targets.

The ministry maintained that neither the government nor the EU wanted to close down the pork industry.