French demand suspension of grading system
French pig producers are protesting against a new carcass grading system in the North and West of France, claiming it will lose them about €0.038 per kilogramme.
The National Pig Producers’ Organisation (ONEP), part of the Coordination rurale farmers’ union, is calling for the suspension of the new system, which is based on muscle coverage per piece (TMP).
The ONEP says this could result in price cuts of over €0.08 per kg in extreme cases.
These price cuts would mean losses of between approximately €15,000 and €35,000 per year for a farm having 200 sows; this would amount to nearly €70 million in total for the Uniporc West region.
Very badly paid
ONEP has renamed the system ‘Très Mal Payé’ (very badly paid).
The organisation points out that producers are already suffering from low market prices (around €1/kg) and rising feed costs.
A petition can be signed on the Internet.
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