Price for pork 15 pct higher than compared to 2018 (association)

The price to acquire pork, the main raw material for producing Sibiu Salami, has grown by 15 pct over the last year, but the price for the final product registered an advance of under 10 pct, stated, on Friday, Carmen Gavrilescu, chair of the Association of Sibiu Salami Producers (APSS) in a press conference at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR). 

"We are delaying this, we are trying to make it not reach the consumer (this price increase - e.n.) (...) It's important that, in a moment of crisis, Romanian consumers are close to this salami even if the price grows. And the increase is absolutely natural, you know the European tendencies. If we are speaking of separate elements, bacon for example, the price registered a doubling. It's a special bacon and the salami cannot be done unless certain conditions are met," said the chair of the Association. 

Regarding the provenance of the raw material, Gavrilescu emphasized that all the raw material is bought on the external market. 

In what regards the consumption of Sibiu salami in Romania, it grew to four slices per capita, a slight increase as compared 3 - 3.5 slices before obtaining the Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) in 2016. As for the legend of Sibiu Salami originally being made of horse meat, the head of the association said that "it's a custom". 

"Back then there were no typologies of membranes and the best and most resistant membrane was that of horse, horse intestine, but only lean pork and pork fat were used. This is what we found written from those times and from pictures," said the chair of the association. 

Sibiu Salami is being promoted for 3 years (2018-2020) in Romania, Spain and Italy, using a European grant worth 1.5 million euro obtained by the Association of Sibiu Salami Producers (APSS), this year seeing only two activities organized during the fairs in Madrid and Milan, while next year it will be promoted in Spain's Barcelona, and in Italy's Turin. 

Starting with 2018, the Association of Sibiu Salami Producers, of which six producers are part - Angst, Aldis, Agricola, Scandia Food, Reinert and Cris-Tim - announced that November 1 will become the "National Day of the Sibiu Salami". 

The Sibiu Salami was recognized in 2016 with the European distinction of quality Protected Geographical Indication (IGP), being the first Romanian processed meat product to receive it.