ZAGREB, 10 Sept 2021 - The Croatian Chamber of Agriculture (HPK) said on Friday that without concrete and swift measures from the government livestock and milk production would collapse. 

The HPK announced that next week it would again organise meetings of all six committees relating to the livestock sector to examine the situation and propose urgent measures to prevent a collapse of livestock and milk production.

This year has been extremely hard for livestock farmers, whose position on the national and common market is currently affected by the adverse impact of the COVID-19 crisis, the HPK said.

"This year has seen a dramatic rise in prices of raw materials on the global market, including in Croatia. Livestock farmers have seen their costs rapidly increasing since the start of the year, while at the same time they have been selling their products below the asking price because on the common market commodities are offered at dumping prices because of surpluses caused by the COVID-19 crisis," HPK president Mladen Jakopović said.

He added that the structural problems in the national livestock sector and the sharp rise in input prices were compounded by a drought and, in some areas of the country, by the consequences of last year's earthquakes.

A study by the Osijek Faculty of Agrobiotechnical Science has shown that input prices, notably the cost of animal feed, had accounted for about 50% of material costs before their jump in 2021, while currently they exceed 70% in certain sectors. This has resulted in higher prices of cereals, processed cereals and animal feed as well as in losses to the livestock sector.

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August the 7th, 2021 - A significant amount money for the Croatian livestock industry is set to flow in thanks to a recent decision made by the European Commission (EC) through various alterations to the Rural Development Programme.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the Ministry of Agriculture reported that the European Commission (EC) has approved an additional 220 million kuna in aid for livestock farmers and the Croatian livestock industry, in addition to existing aid mechanisms. The industry has, much like the majority of other sectors, been hit by the ongoing pandemic, and this EC-approved cash sum hasn't come a moment too late.

“The European Commission has approved the final changes to the Rural Development Programme, which, after lengthy and successful negotiations with the EC, approved this additional aid to the livestock sector in the amount of an additional 130 million kuna through the Animal Welfare measure and an additional 90 million kuna for new support for the use of livestock manure on arable land,'' the aforementioned ministry said in a statement on the matter.

The ministry also recalled that in addition to implementing regular support measures, since the beginning of the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic, the ministry has adopted a number of support programmes which directly involve and include the Croatian livestock industry, worth almost 450 million kuna, as well as various support programmes for the poultry and dairy sectors.

In addition to the above, due to the increase in prices of cereals and other components of typical animal feed, at the last meeting of the Council of Ministers of Agriculture and Fisheries of European Union member states, Minister of Agriculture Marija Vuckovic called on the European Commission to examine all of the possibilities for granting financial support to stabilise the Croatian livestock sector and properly ensure the equal position of Croatia's manufacturers on the demanding global market.

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