New Brexit export controls coupled with impacts of the pandemic, veterinary and slaughterhouse worker shortages, the loss of the Chinese market and CO2 shortages has resulted in a backlog of more than 100,000 pigs on UK farms.
The UK Government announced on 15th October that measures such as a private storage aid scheme will enable meat processors to store slaughtered pigs for three to six months and process them at a later date.
They are also allowing up to 800 new temporary pork butcher visas for a period of six months as part of the Seasonal Workers Pilot Scheme and the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) is working to identify new domestic and export markets for pork.
Despite the UK Government’s three week support package for the reopening of the CF Industries plant which produces 60% of the UK’s CO2 demand, the impact of the short term closure is already having an impact with the FUW receiving reports of fertiliser prices having increased to beyond £700 per tonne.
It is also understood that the loss of foreign workers has resulted in reductions of staffing levels in processing plants from between 12 and 25% while butcher numbers are down by around 16%.
The FUW, including the pig industry and other industry bodies, have been warning the UK Government of such impacts for many years and proposing solutions that fall within the responsibility of the Government.
The shortages of HGV drivers has been affecting almost all UK supply chains and while 5,000 temporary work visas were made available in order to help address such problems, only 127 UK visas had been issued up to 5th October to drivers from the continent who were willing to ease the risk of empty shelves in the run up to Christmas.
While the impacts described above for the pig sector are also affecting the wider meat supply chain, it is to a lesser extent due to the differing nature of the industry. However, it is clear that the situation could change in the run up to Christmas given that the throughput of lamb and beef is already down year on year.
The FUW has also written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson requesting for emergency powers to be enacted if similar fuel shortages were to occur again allowing farmers to have priority access to fuel in order to protect the food supply chain and minimise the financial and animal welfare impacts.