Defra Secretary George Eustice has claimed lamb exports to the EU will return to pre-Brexit levels in future.

British sheepmeat exports to the bloc have fallen by 25 per cent since the UK left the EU, with industry leaders blaming the sharp drop on non-tariff barriers such as paperwork and checks.

Last year, the British Meat Processors Association (BMPA) warned UK meat exporters were having to spend an extra £1,000 to send a lorry through a port.

Smaller exporters, in particular, have struggled to handle the 29 different processes required to send meat to the continent.

Giving evidence to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee this week (February 1), Mr Eustice said he expected the trade to bounce back over the coming years.

“Things like salmon have actually seen an increase in their exports since we have left the European Union, driven by high demand for premium product,” he told the MPs.

“I think we will see a similar situation on our other major agricultural exports like lamb. There will be some impact because of the additional export processes which are required and the costs associated with that, but the big exports we rely on will resume just as Scottish salmon already has.”

But National Sheep Association (NSA) chief executive Phil Stocker questioned whether this would be the case.

“[Trade] will never return to the way it used to be, and seeing the effect border control posts and export health certificate controls are having on exporters, I do not see our volumes to the EU returning to where they were,” he said.

 

 

 

By Abi Kay  / Farmers Guardian

 

Reduced throughputs at UK abattoirs will have a knock-on impact on future trading patterns, industry chiefs have warned. 

It comes as tight supplies of cattle and sheep have supported the continuing trend of above-average market prices into the first month of 2022.

But last year saw cattle throughputs reach their lowest level since 2015 at 2.7 million head, a 5.7 per cent drop on 2020 and 4.3 per cent below the five year average, according to Defra figures.

Glesni Phillips, data analyst at Hybu Cig Cymru – Meat Promotion Wales (HCC), said the decrease in cattle throughput at UK abattoirs last year was not unexpected.

“Increased numbers were processed during 2020 and this led to fewer cattle on the ground,” she said.

“This was especially true for adult cattle which saw throughput fall by almost 6 per cent on the year.”

 

 

Hannah Binns / Farmers Guardian

Ireland exported a record high of 215 million euros (US$239 million) worth of pork to China in 2021, a year-on-year rise of 8 percent. That represented 40 percent of its pork exports.

Conor O’Sullivan, China manager of Bord Bia, the Irish Food Board, said 2021 was of great significance to the Irish meat industry at a recent Irish meat seminar in Shanghai. He added that thanks to the positive bilateral trade relationship between China and Ireland, Irish meat is recognized by more Chinese consumers, and the demand for safe, high-quality food from the Chinese market is increasing every year.

A new trade deal between China and Ireland was struck last September, and Irish lamb is expected to enter the Chinese market this year.

According to O’Sullivan, the value of Ireland’s food, drink and horticulture exports increased by 4 percent to a record of 13.5 billion euros last year in spite of COVID-19 and Brexit’s effect on trading.

About 34 percent of Ireland’s food and drink exports went to international markets outside the EU and the UK, 33 percent went to the EU and 32 percent to the UK. Its exports to Asia exceeded 500 million euros for the first time.

With strong demand and higher prices in the UK and EU markets, Ireland’s beef exports increased by 9 percent in 2021, totaling 2.1 billion euros. Meanwhile, Ireland’s poultry exports decreased by 15 percent.

 

 

By Li Anlan / Shine.cn

Lamb is making a resurgence among consumers, with sales of roasting joints soaring during the last two festive periods.

Most proteins saw roasting joints or whole cut volumes decline on the heights of 2020 but lamb was the exception, up 0.9 per cent and 3.3 per cent on Christmas 2020 and 2019 respectively, latest data from Kantar has shown.

Despite grocery price inflation reaching 3.5 per cent in December 2021, adding an average of £15 to shoppers’ monthly bills, consumers spent £662.5 million on lamb in 2021, a 12.6 per cent increase compared to 2019.

The average price of lamb also rose, up 4.6 per cent year-on-year.

 

Hannah Binns / Farmers Guardian

China, Japan, Taiwan, and Kuwait have all announced bans on pig meat imported from Italy after several cases of African Swine Fever (ASF) were reported in wild boar in the Piemonte region in Northern Italy.

The countries have reportedly blocked purchases of pork from Italy, whilst Switzerland has also introduced trade restrictions with Italy.

The news was announced on Wednesday by Confagricoltura, the confederation of Italian agriculture. Confagricoltura president Massimiliano Giansanti called for the “quick and effective” implementation of “surveillance and biosecurity measures for the protection of farms” as part of efforts to “limit the damage as much as possible.”

Italy has also announced a ban on hunting and several other outdoor activities in two northern regions affected by the outbreak.

 

 

by Iain Hoey / Pig World

Farmers in East Yorkshire are warning they could be forced out of business if the government doesn’t do more to boost staff numbers in the supply chain.

It comes as a lack of abattoir workers meant 10,000 pigs were culled in the region in the run-up to Christmas.

Without abattoirs to process the pigs, farms simply run out of space to keep them, resulting in the culls.

East Riding of Yorkshire Council was told those staff shortages were fuelled by Brexit, with many workers returning to their home countries.

Sisters Kate Moore and Vicky Scott, who run a pig farm in Driffield, have called the action “criminal.”

Kate said: “It’s a disgrace that 35,000 across Great Britain have been killed on farm and wasted. It’s a complete waste. It’s criminal what has happened.”

The sisters would normally sell around 90,000 pigs a year. They are contracted to a certain number of pigs to go to slaughter every week. But currently those contracts are not being taken due to the staff shortages. They are down 30%, losing between £25 to £30 per pig.

“We’re the ones who are suffering financially and emotionally. The farmers are taking the hit in every way”, said Vicky.

“We are suffering massively through no fault of our own and the government have to be held responsible for that.”

 

 

by Amelia Beckett / ITV

 

 

Speaking at an Oxford Real Farming Conference (ORFC) event on January 7, the department’s head of agricultural sectors, John Powell, said he was hopeful they would find a way to ensure small abattoirs can access cash through the Farming Investment Fund, which provides grants to improve productivity and secure environmental benefits.

He also pointed out that Defra was funding a farmer-led mobile abattoir pilot project through the rural development programme, which if successful, will be rolled out further and supported by public money.

Mr Powell said: “[One] key funding mechanism is Defra’s Farming Investment Fund, which went live last year.

“We did submit a list of potential items with the Abattoir Sector Group which might be eligible for funding, that unfortunately did not make the very competitive first round, but a second round is planned for 2022 and we are actively exploring what opportunities there are to support producers.

“This could and is likely to provide support to producers wanting to process and add value to their products. I hope we can find ways of building small abattoirs into proposals which would be able to achieve that aim.”

His comments came just a day after the Defra Secretary, George Eustice, appeared to downplay the idea of using taxpayer cash to support the abattoir network – for a second time.

 

 

by Abi Kay / Farmers Guardian

 

 

The EU imposition of veterinary inspection fees, for example, has been widely touted as having a damaging effect on the sector.

John Mettrick, who owns a small abattoir in Derbyshire and holds key positions in the Abattoir Sector Group and National Craft Butchers, told Farmers Guardian the Government was reluctant to diverge from EU law as Ministers fear this could be used as ‘an excuse’ for the bloc to ban UK exports.

He said: “We have been under the cosh from these EU regulations which saw abattoirs close, and we were told when we came out of the EU, we would be in control and we would be able to get rid of some of the regulations which have not been advantageous to small plants.

“We were told it would be great, but actually, it is worse. We are almost more beholden to EU regulation now we are out than when we were in.”

The UK has also been accused of ‘goldplating’ EU rules, by insisting any slaughterhouse which exceeds 1,000 livestock units in a year has full veterinary inspection, as opposed to delayed post-mortem inspection.

“Why would you go for full veterinary supervision when these businesses have been operating with part veterinary supervision, especially when we are short of vets?”

 

 

 

by Abi Kay / Farmers Guardian

Meat & Livestock Australia’s highly anticipated Australian lamb summer campaign is back in a new TV commercial that celebrates Australia reuniting with the rest of the world after years of isolation.

An Australian tradition, the annual lamb campaigns have built a strong legacy of highly topical advertising and thought-provoking creative content, which continue to generate widespread conversation and subsequent publicity for Australian lamb. The campaign also encourages Lamb purchases when shoppers are making their key protein choice across retail and food service environments.

Building on the ‘Share the Lamb’ brand platform, the six-week integrated campaign reflects upon how Australia has become isolated from the rest of the world due to strict international border closures during the pandemic.

MLA Domestic Market Manager, Graeme Yardy, said the advert was a reminder that Australia is a country not to be forgotten and we see heart-warming reunions as returning travellers make their way back to sunnier climates and lamb barbies.

“Each year the ‘Share the Lamb’ brand gives us a great opportunity to showcase how the unmistakeable flavour and aroma of lamb brings Aussie’s together, even through the very toughest of times. In 2021 we were all about breaking down state borders, but this year we’re ready to finally open back up to the rest of the world, and what better way to issue the invite than with tasty Australian Lamb,” Mr Yardy said.

 

Farm Weekly

CALGARY – A cattle industry group says it is hopeful a newly imposed import ban on Canadian beef by China and two other Asian countries will be temporary.

The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association confirmed Tuesday that China – which imports approximately $170 million of Canadian beef annually, making it the industry’s third-largest global market – has halted imports of beef from Canada following the discovery of an atypical case of BSE, or mad cow disease, on an Alberta farm last month.

South Korea, which is worth about $90 million per year to Canada’s beef industry, as well as the Philippines – which imports about $13 million in Canadian beef annually – have also suspended imports.

“I wouldn’t say it’s surprising, though we were hoping this wouldn’t happen,” said Dennis Laycraft, executive director of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association. “We’re hopeful that these will be very short in duration, but it’s a foreign regulator that you’re dealing with, in different time zones and different languages.”

The detection of the atypical case, which was announced in December, is Canada’s first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in six years.

Atypical BSE develops spontaneously in about one in every one million cattle. It has been reported six times in the U.S., most recently in 2018, as well as a number of other countries.

Unlike the classic BSE strain, which has been linked to the fatal neurological disorder Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, atypical BSE poses no health risk to humans and is not transmissible.

The Alberta government stated in December when it announced the discovery of the case that it was “not expected to have market impacts.”

 

 

by Amanda Stephenson, The Canadian Press