Representatives of the German meat industry are warning of meat supply disruptions in the country, especially pork. According to the experts, Die Welt reports, in a few months the shop shelves will be emptied of meat, and the available product price will rise by 40%.
Representatives of the German meat industry warn of possible disruptions in the meat supply, especially pork. According to Die Welt, Hubert Kelliger, head of sales at the meat factory Westfleisch and member of the board of the Meat Industry Association, predicts that in four, five or six months, the shelves in the country will be empty.
He explains the situation as follows: due to the unfavourable framework conditions, many breeders are closing down their businesses or reducing their pig numbers. This, of course, “will lead to less stock on the shelves in the next few months” – and prices will rise considerably again: “Whether the increase will be 20, 30 or 40 per cent is impossible to say today. But prices will increase noticeably”.
Politicians are considered responsible for this.
“The current federal government would prefer to eliminate livestock farming altogether and switch people’s diet to vegetables and oatmeal,” jokes Kelliger, alluding to remarks by Federal Agriculture Minister Cem Ozdemir.
According to the minister, livestock farming should be cut by 50% for the sake of animal welfare and climate protection.
According to Kelliger, this deprives livestock farmers of the support they need and, above all, of prospects. Nothing is progressing in the construction legislation regarding new and improved stalls.
“There’s blunt party agendas being developed,” Kelliger is indignant.
At the same time, he says, the societal reality demands something completely different.
Meat industry representatives do not dispute the fact that vegetarianism and veganism have become increasingly popular in recent years.
“But it is also a fact that more than 90 percent of Germans still buy and eat meat,” says Kelliger, referring to studies on the purchasing behaviour of the population.
Accordingly, it is important to produce meat in the country. But today Germany is moving in a completely different direction. And Kelliger sees that as dangerous, because new forms of dependency are emerging: “We are now at the point where we can calculate exactly from which year we will no longer be able to supply ourselves with meat. This is where Germany is making the same mistake as it did with its energy supply.
“Indeed, the share of meat and sausage products coming from abroad is already growing. Germany has become the biggest meat importer in Europe,” says Gereon Schulze-Althof, chairman of the board of the German Meat Industry Association and chief development and quality manager at the Tönnies meat processing plant.
He believes that the industry is now at a turning point: “There is a great danger that we are slipping into a food crisis alongside the energy crisis.
According to him, politicians in the current geopolitical situation need to understand how important it is for the country to be self-sufficient in food.
“Nevertheless, in the area of meat and meat products we are carelessly ceding our place in the market to others,” Schulze-Althof is indignant.
“There won’t be as much meat as there used to be,” warns Kelliger.
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