Pig breeders ‘lack’ much-needed EU aid to survive competition

Pig breeders were not being given the EU funding help they needed to survive fierce competition from oversees, MEP hopeful Peter Agius said.
He was reacting to a report in The Sunday Times of Malta, which said that the industry in Malta was collapsing under mounting pressure from European competitors and the spread of new food fraud.
The problem is primarily one of economies of scale.
Foreign pork is far cheaper to produce than it is in Malta because farmers here have to shell out a bomb to import the cereal feeds that fattens pigs before slaughter, according to the breeders’ cooperative.
Maltese operations are also tiny compared to the mammoth factory-scale ventures on the mainland, meaning the cost per pig is much higher than it is for, say, Dutch farmers to rear a sow.
Local sellers are also opting for the cheaper foreign produce.

Supermarket fridges and butcher displays, the cooperative said, were being stuffed with cheaper foreign roasts, chops and sausages but sold to consumers at the same price as Maltese pork, with sellers turning a hefty profit.
To make matters worse, some unscrupulous sellers were labelling foreign meat as local producer to cash in on many buyers’...