High feed costs hit Aussie pig producers
Australian pigmeat producers are suffering badly because of high domestic feed costs, the Productivity Commission has found. The commission’s final report into the pigmeat industry found feed prices reached record highs in 2007 and the trend is continuing into this year.
growing worldwide demand and government support for ethanol, and the strong
economic growth in China and India.
While pointing out that the
Cooperative Research Centre for Pork is looking into ways to reduce feed costs,
the report recommended a review into ethanol and other biofuel policies and
their effect on grain users.
It found federal government support for the
ethanol industry, based on growing crops such as wheat and sugar, had the
potential to increase feed grain costs. The commission also found there was
potential, in the longer term, for domestic support for the ethanol industry to
raise domestic feed prices and therefore directly affect the pigmeat and other
livestock industries.
The report said reducing feed costs was crucial for
Australia to be able to participate in an export market.
Among other
recommendations, the commission urged governments to undertake periodic reviews
of pig animal welfare regulation to ensure that it was imposing the minimum
compliance requirements necessary to achieve its objectives. It urged
consistency of regulation across the various jurisdictions on elements such as
animal welfare, occupational health and safety, food and ethanol regulation.
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