English pork processors seek help after China ban

English pork processors are seeking up to £15m of government support after China halted imports of meat, including trotters and pigs’ heads, from plants experiencing coronavirus outbreaks.

The industry estimates 1m pig carcasses have been affected by the suspension of some exports to the world’s largest pork market.

Chinese consumers relish parts of the pig, such as trotters and heads, that are unpopular in the UK, so selling them to China had helped maintain profitability in the UK’s £1.6bn pig sector.

Pork processors and farmers have met regularly with the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs this year as part of a new forum called the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group. They have discussed pressures on the industry and the potential for financial support.

Farmers are separately seeking £3.2m to help them deal with the impact of a backlog of pigs on farms because of post-Brexit trade blockages. This has cost them extra money in feed and penalties from processors for animals slaughtered at high weights.

“Margins in the meat industry are very tight at the best of times,” said Nick Allen, chief executive of the British Meat Processors Association. “So finding markets for these things like pigs’ heads is absolutely critical.” Unwanted pig parts may be sold into lower-value markets or for pet food, he added.

Defra said: “Although there are a small number of businesses that cannot currently export pork products to China, this issue is not unique to the UK. We recognise the challenges the sector is facing and are closely monitoring the situation.

“Defra will continue to support the affected establishments, working closely with UK industry and the British embassy in Beijing, with the aim of securing the resumption of exports.”

Meat plants worldwide have been susceptible to coronavirus outbreaks. More than 250 people tested positive at a site run by London-listed meat processor Cranswick in Norfolk last October, while a site at Ashton-under-Lyne run by Pilgrim’s UK — ultimately owned by Brazilian meat giant JBS — has also suffered an outbreak.

An official at China’s General Customs administration said it began suspending UK frozen meat imports last June after outbreaks in pork factories. 

“There is evidence that the virus could stay alive in low-temperature environments. We would rather overreact, than not reacting, when it comes to virus prevention,” the official said. “We will lift the import curb when there is sufficient evidence that the pandemic is under full control in the UK. There is no sign that has happened.”

China has rejected shipments from Brazil and the Netherlands on similar grounds, although the World Health Organization says that “as food has not been implicated in the transmission of Covid-19, imported food should be subjected to the same import controls as before the pandemic”.

The UK government agreed with China last year that meat factories undergoing outbreaks would voluntarily suspend their export licences, according to people in the UK briefed on the situation.

But the process of reinstating licences after outbreaks had been eradicated had slowed, two people said, suggesting broader UK-China tensions might be to blame.

Zoe Davies, chief executive of the National Pig Association, said the pressures on the industry had led some farmers to quit: about 15 to 20 farmers with about 10,000 sows in total had recently left the sector.

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About three-quarters of pig farmers are operating at a loss, she added. While ministers have not so far committed to financial support, they are taking a “very keen interest” in the problem, she said.

Scotland and Northern Ireland both announced funding in March for pig farmers affected by coronavirus outbreaks in processing plants.

Processors in the two devolved nations had already deducted £15 from the price paid to farmers for each pig that could not be part-sold into China, so the hardship funds were paid entirely to farmers.

But processors have not levied this charge in England, so any government support for them would potentially be paid direct, Allen said.

Additional reporting by Sun Yu in Beijing