Existing farmers selling pigs to Danish Crown, one of the world’s largest pork exporters, will receive an extra DKK0.50 per kg of meat as part of a major growth package incentivising farmers to produce more pigs in Denmark.
Danish Crown’s CEO Jais Valeur said the company’s position as a leading pork exporter had “come under pressure” with the firm struggling to supply the large volumes of meat demanded by overseas markets.
Reverse the decline
“Plenty of pigs are being born on Danish farms, but far too many of them are being exported,” said Valeur.
“The Danish Parliament has adopted an agricultural package and a subsidy scheme for new housing units for pigs for slaughter. These are two specific initiatives which address the needs of the sector.
“In support of these the initiatives, Danish Crown is now introducing its own growth package. We believe that the trend can be reversed, and that we will see an increase in activity levels at Danish Crown’s abattoirs.”
‘Win-win’ package
Alongside Danish Crown’s growth package for existing farmers is a subsidiary scheme for new producers of weaner pigs specifically for the UK market. Further to this, Danish Crown is ready to pay DKK0.30 per kg to new suppliers of slaughter pigs, who will also have access to free advice services.
Denmark is widely considered to operate an excellent pig breeding operation. But all these gains have not been fully enjoyed by Danish slaughterhouses, as record-breaking numbers of piglets are being exported to Germany and Poland.
As Danish Crown’s strength is linked intrinsically to its export capability, a decline in volume could be potentially detrimental to the company. And, as such, the meat processor has taken action to encourage farmers to produce more pigs.
The growth package has been described as a “win-win” by Danish Crown’s chairman Erik Bredholt, who said he had “high hopes” for the initiative.
“Existing cooperative members are able to expand their production, and specialist producers of weaners can lease new housing units and start producing slaughter pigs. Finally, we are welcoming new cooperative members to Danish Crown with a cash contribution.”
Farmers can make use of the new scheme as of 2 May 2017.
Slaughter numbers of all finished pigs and sows for the first nine weeks of 2017 are down over 8% year-on-year, according to Seges Pig Research.