0
Unprecedentedly, the French pig reference market, le Marché de Porc Breton (MPB), cancelled its sessions on August 10th, 13th and 17th due to the non-attendance of 2 of the main French meat industries (Cooperl and Bigard/Socopa). These companies consider that the price of €1.40/kg carcass agreed on in mid-June by the sector and the government does not allow being competitive.
On August 18th, the market resumed in a special session after an emergency meeting on Monday, August 18th, between the MPB representatives and the Minister Mr. Le Foll, in which Cooperl and Bigard did not participate and neither attended the following MPB sessions. In the August 18th session and the following session, the price ended up being €1.389/kg carcass, and in both sessions some 30% of the pigs offered were not sold.
In the meeting held on August 17th, the Minister announced the modification of a decree in September through which the public call threshold would be increased up to €25,000 instead of €15,000 to favour the purchase of local products. He also promised to keep on with the French meat valuation strategy and he announced meetings to discuss on pork commercialisation matters.
For its part, the FNSEA, the main French agricultural union, has announced a great demonstration in Paris next September 3rd that will join the European demonstration organised by the Copa-Cogeca on September 7th in Brussels, the day when a special meeting of the Ministers of Agriculture cabinet will be held to address the economic crisis of the agriculture sectors of several member states.
17 August 2015 / Ministry of Agriculture, Agrifood, and Forestry / France / http://agriculture.gouv.fr
10 and 17 August 2015 / Le Monde / France / http://www.lemonde.fr/
18 and 20 August / Marché du Porc Breton / France / http://www.marche-porc-breton.com/
