ASAJA, COAG, UPA and Avianza promote the Executive Integration Committee to improve the conditions of the poultry meat producing sector in Spain

• The representatives of the main agricultural and livestock organizations, as well as AVIANZA, subscribe to an “effective and decisive” commitment to promote measures that guarantee their viability.
• One of the objectives will be the review and update of the Bases of the Type Integration Contract, as well as a draft response to the threats that continue to affect the sector.

Madrid, April 17, 2023. Representatives of the main national agricultural and livestock organizations, ASAJA, COAG and UPA, and AVIANZA, the majority association of the Spanish poultry meat sector, which brings together more than 65 associated companies and represents more than 90% of companies linked to the chicken, turkey and quail meat sector, have officially constituted the Executive Integration Committee which will aim to review and update the Bases of the Integration Type Contract, which establishes the main guarantees and the framework of action for the regulation of the activity between the producing companies (integrators) and their members (poultry farms). To this end, after the meeting held last Friday, April 14, 2023 in Madrid, its representatives have formalized a joint statement that we transfer below:

• We constitute this Executive Integration Committee as an operational instrument for constructive debate and proactive negotiation of the relationship between integrating companies and farmers dedicated to the production of poultry meat in Spain.
• More than ever, it is essential to act in a joint and coordinated manner to respond to the challenges of the poultry sector, both from a firm position of defending the rights of all members of its value chain, as well as respect for the contribution of each one of its essential pillars.
• We want to act as a common voice, firm and conciliatory at the same time, to advance in the strengthening of a key sector for the Spanish economy, with special impact in areas of emptied Spain, and generating more than 2,500 million euros of turnover for the national GDP, as well as more than 40,000 direct and indirect jobs.
• Until the socioeconomic and health crisis caused by the COVID pandemic, our sector had undertaken one of the greatest efforts in modernization, professionalization, production and marketing capacity ever made. This had allowed us to gain in our own right to be one of the 3 main poultry meat producing markets in Europe, with the challenge of international projection for the first time in our history.
• However, since 2020, the Spanish poultry meat sector has been subjected to a permanent context of pressure and suffocation that has hampered its production capacity and profitability balance, and consequently its economic viability.
• For more than three years we have been supporting the entire value chain, from farms to processing and production centers, as well as marketing networks, the consequences of the increase in raw materials (up to doubling or tripling their price), the escalation unprecedented energy (up to 6 times more), inputs and materials such as cardboard, plastics, inflation pressure, etc. All this in a sector that, due to its characteristics, has much shorter production cycles than other analogues, and which makes it one of the most vulnerable.
• However, our joint position as a sector has always been one of resilience and commitment to the uninterrupted production of poultry meat to avoid any shortages for families in Spain. Day after day, all professionals in the sector have maintained their activity and fulfilled their responsibility.
• In this context, we have demanded co-responsibility from all members of the value chain to be able to face a critical situation not only for the sector, but for the population itself, since poultry meat is an essential pillar of healthy and affordable nutrition for everyone. Spaniards, especially for the most vulnerable.
• We have expressly demanded that Distribution adapt the marketing contracts with the production chain to avoid the collapse of the sector as a whole, adapting them to the constantly escalating production costs. A demand that has not had the quick response and in accordance with the reality that we needed, thereby generating dramatic situations in farms and integrating companies, some of which could not resist the situation caused and were forced to close.
• Even so, the constructive dialogue between the main agricultural and livestock organizations and the integration companies, with the intermediation of AVIANZA, has allowed progressive agreements to update costs, which, although they were still not reciprocated with Distribution, allowed acting in solidarity, once again, to the poultry meat production sector.
• It should also be noted that in this context we have suffered and new threats loom over the poultry meat sector due to administrative pressure, both local and European, to impose draconian regulation and foreign to the context of modernization and values promoted by the sector itself.
• Current regulations and measures under study within the framework of the European Union point to a new attack on the viability of our sector, recognized for its commitment to sustainability in all its aspects, the commitment to decarbonization objectives and advances in energy sustainable or animal welfare.
• Given these threats, the import of meat from countries outside the European Union would be a reality. Meat would be imported with much lower standards of quality, health, food safety and animal welfare, as it would have a much more competitive price.
• We believe it is essential to be heard to avoid past mistakes that led to the disappearance of entire Spanish production sectors, to the detriment of other markets that ultimately did not meet the supposed objectives set or the corresponding benefit in quality (and even price) for consumers. . We therefore demand that the Spanish national administration act as defender of the Spanish poultry meat sector before said administrations.

Representatives of the Integration Committee will continue their work in the coming weeks to constantly transmit their progress.