02/01/2003 
Private storage of pork – a comment by Franz Meyer zu Holte
It is almost kind of a rule that, whenever times are getting harder during the pig production cycle, the instrument of
supporting the private storage of porkcomes out as a magic trick. From times of a total regulation of the European internal markets, this measure was saved by taking it over to the new times. Now this cornucopia of subsidies is above all demanded by Denmark and the Netherlands, two states where a surplus of merchandise is produced and that are orientating to export of goods. And there people do know that – as a rule – a support of export will be combined with it. Furthermore they know that they will thus be given the whip hand, compared to Germany and Italy for instance, where there are deficits in structural conditions. In the interest of an all-European equality of opportunities, Brussels should finally abolish this rule. Only if there are ups and downs in the market will it be possi-ble that a proper, consumer-friendly structure be developed. In the face of the public tills being short of cash, one should no longer shut the speculating warehouse owners up by giving them the money.
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