The European Commission has proposed this Wednesday to give aid to the private storage of beef, sheep and goat meat. These grants are part of a package of measures to mitigate the consequences of the crisis that the Covid-19 pandemic is causing to the sector, especially due to the closure of the HORECA channel. Anafric will inform how the aid will be established.
The objective of the Community Executive is to formally adopt these measures before the end of the month. “I am confident that they will ease the markets and show concrete results quickly,” said Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski.
Beef
Aid to private storage is envisaged as a market intervention mechanism, but has not been implemented until now. However, the closure of restaurants and catering and hotel services have resulted in a sharp drop in demand for beef products, especially in noble cuts (40% – 60%), which has not been offset by the increase. of minced meat products, causing a drop in prices.
Sheepmeat and goatmeat
This aid had not been activated for 20 years. As it is a meat closely linked to the HORECA channel, and with the aggravating circumstance that the crisis has coincided with the festivities of Easter and Ramadan, it has been greatly affected. In Spain the fall in prices has been dramatic but this has not been the general rule in Europe.
Anafric positioning
Although this is excellent news, we have asked MAPA to support us in requesting retroactivity, to provide a solution to the meat that is already stored. MAPA has until tomorrow to send its comments to the Commission.
Many member states have complained that calf less than 8 months old will not benefit from the measure.
The regulations are expected to be published in the remainder of the week
