Meat now a luxury in EU country

Meat now a luxury in EU country

The crisis, along with some domestic policy decisions, have led to a crisis of animal husbandry in Croatia. As less and less pigs and cattle are bred, the country needs to import meat products, which results in price hikes.

English GAZDASÁG NAGYVILÁG 2022. NOVEMBER 25. 07:33

The cost of breeding grows, which drives up the price of meat

The meat industry is facing increasing problems in Croatia, just as consumers, who will eventually need to foot the bill. The price of meat and its derivatives has grown significantly. The breeding of cattle, for example, costs twice as much this year, according to experts. At the same time, the imports of pork have doubled compared to the period before Croatia’s EU accession.

The sector was also affected by the closure of the Petrokemija fertilizer plant, Deutsche Welle writes. Experts, however, underline that the crisis is not only caused by external factors. According to agricultural expert and former breeder Miroslav Kovac, a part of the problem is that large quantities of meat are imported from abroad, jeopardising domestic pork and beef production.

Croatia’s dependence on foreign suppliers grows

Miroslav Kovac added that home-bred pig and cattle stocks have been ruined by long-term and obviously bad political decisions. The measures adopted have mostly been short-sighted and reactive in nature, without realistic and clear goals, he said.

„The dependence is increasing, and the price grows along with it. The greatest disaster is that breeders have been decimated,” the expert said.

If the country follows the same course, rising prices will affect the entire supply chain, Mr Kovac added, and emphasized the importance of developing and preserving national economies in order to solve the problem.

Hungary and Slovenia are positive examples

The expert has repeatedly voiced sharp criticism of Croatia’s agricultural policy as in his opinion, the sector is clearly in stagnation. Neighboring EU members Slovenia and Hungary have taken a series of quality steps, raising their production to an impressive level, Mr Kovac noted. Prices have, of course, climbed in these countries as well, but domestic production is in much better shape, import volumes are lower, and costs are less of a burden on customers.

Production costs up by 30 per cent

Inflation in Croatia was 132.2 per cent year-on-year in October. This is a record for the Adriatic country, as reported by V4NA. Figures have never been so high ever since the State Statistical Institute started to record these data. Price hikes were the steepest for food and non-alcoholic beverages in Croatia, with the price of these products increasing by almost 20 per cent.

All in all, it can be concluded that the significant rise in the price of meat led to a drop in demand at the stores. Consequently, Croatian families see meat on their plates more and more rarely.

At the same time, meat product producers emphasize that they are doing everything they can to spare their customers from the increased production costs. This year alone, manufacturing costs jumped by more than thirty per cent, and inflation – along with the energy crisis – will continue to be a challenge in the future, Ivica Pivac, the head of one of Croatia’s largest meat production groups, highlighted.

„Uncertain market conditions are making it difficult to project price movements. However, we’re going to continue to do everything we can so that the increase in input costs will affect our customers as little as possible,” Mr Pivac said.

English GAZDASÁG NAGYVILÁG

Címkék:

agrar, balkan, croatia, inflation