Cabinet Secretary Takes Industry Plight to Brussels

SCOTLAND - The difficulties facing Scotland's pig sector will be made clear by Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment Richard Lochhead when he travels to Europe today.

Mr Lochhead is attending the Agriculture Council in Brussels, as part of the UK delegation and will be meeting his UK counterparts and the European Commission. Welcoming the decision by the Poles to put the issue on the Council's agenda, he will stress to his UK colleagues the urgent need for member states to recognise the serious situation facing the struggling pig industry.

Mr Lochhead said that the pig sector in Scotland continues to face tremendous difficulties.

Keen

"I am keen that we do all we can to demonstrate our support for this sector. While feed prices have doubled over the last year, there has been little movement in the prices paid to producers. We should all be concerned about the potential collapse of the sector," he added.

He felt that Scottish-only solutions were not easy to find as this is a Europe-wide problem. Regular contact with retailers about the need to take a long-term view of sustainability in the supply chain was underway and Quality Meat Scotland has just launched a massive pork promotion campaign to encourage the public to put more scottish pork on their fork.

"It is important the UK intervenes at the Agricultural Council and support attempts by other member states to highlight the plight of the pig sector," said Mr Lochhead.

Further Reading

- Go to our previous news item on Scottish pig industry clicking here.

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