U.K. Faces Costlier Meat as Crisis Forces Slaughtering Overseas

(Bloomberg) --

U.K. consumers should brace for even higher meat prices as worker shortages force producers to send supplies overseas for processing before re-importing them.

That’s the warning from the British Meat Processors Association, which said that beef carcasses are being sent to Ireland for butchering and that pork producers are considering shipping cuts to the Netherlands. The costs being incurred amount to about 1,500 pounds ($2,030) per lorry.

“Sooner or later these costs will be passed on to consumers,” Nick Allen, the association’s head, said on the BBC’s Farming Today radio program.

Staff shortages have led to 150,000 pigs being stuck on farms, forcing animals to be culled because it’s too costly to keep them. While the government has issued short-term visa for overseas butchers to ease the crunch, the National Pig Association said the application process takes too long and processors worry hiring won’t start before Christmas.

The government and meat sector have been at loggerheads over the number of skilled foreign butchers needed to plug the labor crunch. The BMPA says the six-month temporary permit for pork butchers isn’t enough to address the crisis, considering the entire meat industry is grappling with a 12,000 labor shortfall.

The government said in a statement on Wednesday that the temporary visas aren’t a long-term solution and that meat producers are expected to start training butchers and recruit locally.

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