The Competition Council has launched a study to identify barriers that limit Romanian farmers’ access to the pork processing and marketing market.
The Competition Council announces that it aims to identify any dysfunctions in the sector that could affect competition and, implicitly, consumers. Thus, the study seeks to establish the administrative, regulatory, and financing access limitations that hinder the development of small and very small farms and make it difficult for farmers or processors to enter the pork market.
The study also analyzes how the industry works, mainly its characteristics, processes, and criteria for certifying pork for marketing, as well as the degree of integration of the companies involved in the supply chain.
„Against the backdrop of rising pork imports and declining exports, we set out to identify the causes of this deficit and the obstacles that limit Romanian farmers’ access to large retail chains. We are analyzing the entire chain—from farm to slaughterhouse, processing, and retail—to determine what measures can stimulate product diversity on the shelves and, implicitly, more affordable prices for consumers,” said Bogdan Chirițoiu, president of the competition authority.
Thus, the Competition Council will request information from companies in the field and from the public institutions involved. The authority also invites pork and pork product producers (especially small producers/farmers) and processors, as well as any other interested parties, to submit data, information, and/or documents they consider relevant to the study to sectoriala.cp@consiliulconcurentei.ro.
At the end of the analysis, the Competition Council warns that it will issue recommendations to eliminate the problems identified, and if it discovers violations of the law, it will initiate the necessary procedures to sanction them.