12 ms·
Spaniards face ham shortage as Chinese market gets taste for jamón ibérico
- KasianFranks 9y agoSomeone is facing a ham shortage?
- tyingq 9y agoA shortage of one very specific, high end, type of ham, yes. Similar to "wagyu beef"...brand/status/scarcity.
- KasianFranks 9y agoWill this come to the United States? If so, we better get ready as in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NC6iRwe9ns https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NC6iRwe9ns
- opportune 9y agoIt's a specific type of luxury ham produced in Spain (ergo the name "Iberian ham"). Since you didn't even know what this product was beforehand you have nothing to get ready for, it won't affect you.
- KasianFranks 9y agoLuxury ham? Now I'm getting it.
- la_oveja 9y agoNo esta hecho el jamón para el hocico del marrano...
- partycoder 9y agoIt is already very expensive outside Spain. A similar, more affordable ham is Jamón Serrano.
- lobster_johnson 9y agoNote that "serrano" is not as strictly protected as a term as ibérico, which needs to confirm to the rules of the Denominación de Origen [1]. Only a handful of serrano brands are D. O. (and will be clearly marked as such on the packaging), and the stuff sold in American supermarkets, for example, generally aren't among those brands. That doesn't mean that you can't find good, cheap "plain" serrano, of course. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denominaci%C3%B3n_de_Origen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denominaci%C3%B3n_de_Origen
- partycoder 9y agoJamón Serrano does not have Spanish DO protection status but has an European agricultural protection status known as TSG. This denomination establishes that the ingredients/materials and quality are subject to certain standard for that given product (but does not constrain the origin of the product). For a product consumed in a regular basis rather than on special occasions this might be enough.
- mc32 9y agoThe salient part was that it takes five acres per swine. They only have two hinds each... And they can only raise them in two areas of Spain. Seems production is pretty constrained by resources (in this case land with oak trees). That combined with 48-mo curing makes it hard to scale up. And we used to complain about almond production consuming too many resources (water) per output...
- colechristensen 9y agoIsn't lower density animal production a good thing?
- mc32 9y agoWell, moderation, as they say. In this case vast amounts of land are used to produce little product. Not sure how efficient it is. It suffers from "scalability" which kinda results in scarcity and then perception. I understand wanting free range --but this is an artificial diet constrained to grasses and acorns --swine usually are omnivorous and would eat more, but this ham requires only those two --so they must dedicate lots of land to each hog.
- colechristensen 9y agoAnd isn't it otherwise just wild habitat? People have strange priorities, or, to put it differently, people seem to not want any resources used for farming regardless of how it's used.
- namdnay 9y agoI wouldn't say it's an artificial diet - It's the natural diet for a swine living in the Mediterranean brushland
- Arnt 9y agoThere's lots of ham on the market that's produced without letting the swine forage in the foods, and/or with brief curing. It's cheaper than the top-quality stuff, too. Changing the production of the top-quality ham to match that of cheaper ham doesn't really solve anything. It just fools customers until they learn.
- danso 9y agoBesides this ham, evidently Chinese demand has been blamed for the global shortage of avocados [0] and the lack of butter in France [1]. I've personally most noticed the effect when it comes to wide-release movies, in which the heroes manage to find some reason to end up for a brief scene in China, or to use Chinese brand products -- Civil War, Transformers, and Robocop come to mind. There's also the suspicion that American movies have had to be more generic in their themes and dialog to be easier to translate/localize for the Chinese. Ghostbusters and Deadpool were not eligible for China's market because of their supernatural and otherwise offensive content, so it's not hard to believe that moviemakers will have to work harder to justify such content [2]. As an American, seeing these examples is still kind of amusing to me in a karmic way. I assume whatever annoyance or alienation I feel is just a small bit of how the rest of the world has felt the past 50 years, having to regularly adapt to and adopt strange influences and demands because they were popular in America (Sorry about "Jersey Shore", high fructose corn syrup, the backlash against MSG, and the cocaine trade). [0] https://phys.org/news/2017-05-china-blame-global-avocado-shortage.html https://phys.org/news/2017-05-china-blame-global-avocado-sho... [1] http://money.cnn.com/2017/08/09/news/economy/butter-shortage-europe/index.html http://money.cnn.com/2017/08/09/news/economy/butter-shortage... [2] https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/08/did-you-catch-the-ways-hollywood-pandered-to-china-this-year https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/08/did-you-catch-t...
- jfoutz 9y agoOnly 20 foreign movies are allowed into China per year. Unless part of the movie takes place in China. Lots of movies have a special cut, just for that reason.
- danso 9y agoModern blockbuster movies are already plagued with hectic editing and an overabundance of excuses-for-people-to-be-making-a-helicopter-landing. But some of the Chinese scenes/collaboration have worked out nicely. I can't be the only American ignorant of Chinese cityscapes. The Shanghai scene in "Skyfall" was one of the most movie's visually memorable images. Maybe "Pacific Rim"'s latter half would have taken place in Hong Kong without concern about the Chinese market (its title is Pacific Rim, after all, and a movie about robots beating monsters has a lot of freedom to be in contrived places). But apparently its popularity at the Chinese box office helped pave the way for a sequel, despite its disappointing receipts in the U.S. https://qz.com/110683/pacific-rim-trashed-hong-kong-but-won-over-china-with-a-record-opening-day/ https://qz.com/110683/pacific-rim-trashed-hong-kong-but-won-...
- realworldstuff 9y agoNo one HAS to sell to Chinese markets.
- gonvaled 9y agoNo idea what you mean. No one needs to sell to Chinese markets for Chinese to buy the product. We are in the WTO, so a Chinese importer comes, buys at market price, and pays tariffs. Exactly as western people buy things in the international market.
- tanilama 9y agoOP actually gets the point. Chinese consumers are not aware of those foods until very recently, and their interests are likely cultivated by the corresponding oversea industry intentionally. So why blame China for the shortage when the western countries are the ones create the demand in the first place? I guess it is a convenient strategy to hike the price while swiftly shift the blame to something people already dislike, after all it fits the narrative.
- gonvaled 9y agoIt makes no sense. How would the "nice" export strategy look like? Market the product in the international channels but make sure no Chinese is aware of it? Or maybe do not put the product for export at all? As said, we are in the WTO. Which means yes or no to exports. With good reason.
- neximo64 9y agoWhen you HAVE to pay your debts/working capital off you HAVE to sell as much as you can to whoever buys it and pays the most. These type of comments really get me off. It is so ignorant of people who work under different circumstances than in tech.
- icebraining 9y agoI have nothing against them selling to the Chinese market, but it's not literally true that you HAVE to sell to whoever pays the most. The makers of Jamón Ibérico were paying their debts before the Chinese buyers came around, and they would keep doing so if they hadn't come. Lots of individuals and companies also sell their products below the absolute maximum price they could charge.
- JumpCrisscross 9y ago> But demand is now threatening to outstrip supply Why isn’t the price being adjusted?
- ekianjo 9y agoThat's a very good question. When supply is limited and demand rises, you adjust the price accordingly.
- JumpCrisscross 9y agoParticularly for a luxury good... Something about this story doesn’t smell right.
- icebraining 9y agoIt is. It's literally the continuation of that sentence: "But demand is now threatening to outstrip supply, leaving Spaniards facing steep price rises in their most prized Christmas delicacy." And in the third paragraph: "it is pushing up the price by as much as 10%". And in the sixth: "It’s inevitable that the price in Spain is going to rise"
- pbhjpbhj 9y ago10% is not large, fruit prices in UK supermarkets seem to have risen by at least that this year. Incidentally, anyone know of a project monitoring food price changes in UK for the major supermarkets?
- garyclarke27 9y agoWorth every penny -Spanish/Portuguese Iberico ham is sensational, melts in your mouth whilst bursting with flavour. As good as the best: Japanese Tuna Sashimi, Scottish grass fed Rib Eye steak, Iclandic Cod, US CheeseBurger, Bordeaux Wine, Thai Dom Yum Goong, Indian Tandori Chicken, Chineese Peeking Duck, Berlin Curryworst, Portuguese Custard Tart, Italian Margarita Pizza, French Butter Croissants or even Mcdonald’s French Fries!
- Jakawao 9y agoTwo Spanish brothers are trying to make their own jamón in Texas. Acornseekers.com
- vetinari 9y agoThey must be aware that will run into geographical indication protection. Similarly to Italians making cheese all over Europe, but being unable to call it Parmesan. So in the end, they can have a product that will taste very similarly, but they will have to sell them under different name.
- dagw 9y agoThe US isn't as strict as Europe when it comes to enforcing those sorts of rules. For example you can buy bottles of US made sparkling wine labeled "California Champagne" and various cheese like products labeled "Parmensan" that have never been anywhere near Italy.
- ycombobreaker 9y agoAs i understand it "Parmigiano Reggiano" is the protected term. Parmesan cheese is the whatever-product.
- dagw 9y agoThat might be true for the US, in the EU both Parmigiano Reggiano and Parmesan cheese are protected.
- oblio 9y agoThis is actually good - we want China as integrated in the world economy as possible and we definitely want them to spend and open up to outside influences, including culinary. The world (and even China itself) doesn't need another Qing period.
- ksec 9y agoIn some way yes, but as soon as all these countries are dependent on China for export, China will have a dictating voice in many other areas.
- Cthulhu_ 9y agoIt's nice to see China starting to import more - I got the impression for a long time that China was largely an export country (like a lot of electronics and such are made there). Should look up some figures before continuing to make such assumptions though. edit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China says China's the #1 exporter and #2 importer of goods in the world, so, never mind :p
- oblio 9y agoIt depends also what kind of goods they're importing. I'm far from an economic expert but importing processed goods probably creates stronger economic, social and political ties than importing raw goods.
- EugeneOZ 9y agoI live in Spain - a lot of jamon still in shops, prices are the same. Glad to see people of China love it, but there is no shortage of jamon, definitely.
- dazc 9y agoBut not all jamon is the same , apparently. Not, alas, to my typical Northern English palette though.
- Cthulhu_ 9y agoNo probably not, and I hope the name is protected so substandard mass produced stuff is clearly marked as such.
- virgilp 9y agoNo, it's not. You're going to find it very hard to get Jamón Ibérico de Bellota outside Spain - from what I saw, they mostly export the jamón serrano. I'm pretty sure you can make the difference between the two - though, to be completely honest, it's not THAT big and I'm not sure it's worth the price difference.
- baby 9y agoYou always have nice and expensive jamon iberico de bellota restaurants in France. It’s good! If you’re in Lyon there is one in les halles de bocuse
- bambax 9y agoYou can find it in some supermarkets too, at least in Paris. There is even a chain of stores named after bellota that mostly sells it (and a little caviar too): https://www.bellota-bellota.com/en/magasins https://www.bellota-bellota.com/en/magasins It is, indeed, an exceptional product. IMHO, nothing comes close (in that category of products).
- EugeneOZ 9y ago
- angarg12 9y agoWe spaniards are just absolutely terrible at marketing. Every time that I see how italians have managed to convince the world to consume their produces, I feel ashamed. And when we finally manage to get recognition, we can't meet the demand because we are not set up to deal with international demand. I hope this trend continues and we find new, healthier ways to expand our economy.
- dgut 9y agoI've heard this been mentioned before, but I entirely disagree. The more likely culprit is the 35 years of post-war Franco rule, it crippled Spain under a period when most global brands were being established. It's also no coincidence Zara was founded in 1975, now the world's largest apparel retailer.
- loopbit 9y agoAt some point we'll have to stop blaming Franco for every problem we have. Yes, it was a time of isolationism that crippled us in many ways, but most of the people working today never lived through the worst of it. Even companies that were founded while Franco lived (or before) are now managed by a younger[0] crowd In my (very personal) opinion, the fact that not many people, comparatively speaking, are fluent in any language other than the local languages and a certain level of short sightedness that makes us look only to local markets[1] has much more to do today than the dark ages of the dictatorship. I moved out of Spain more than a decade ago and things seem to be changing (at least now I find spanish products in my local supermarket that I had to bring in my luggage before when I went for a visit), but we are late to the game and it will take time to catch up. [0] Well, -ish [1] Not exclusively a Spanish fault... Many countries suffer this to certain level.
- dgut 9y agoI was explicitly referring to the topic at hand: Marketing abroad/International brands. What I described is undeniably one of the major reasons, if not the most important one. Most true global brands were established in the post-war period (Spain couldn't have participated in it that is). Language barriers are a common issue for all our neighboring countries, more so in the past. > most of the people working today never lived through the worst of it You don't have to be around when the earthquake hits to live with its consequences. But sure, things are going somewhere, where exactly I'm not sure.
- lexxed 9y agoHope the chinese doesn't get a taste of bitcoins.. oh wait..
- gaius 9y agoThis must be how the Peruvians felt when Western vegans ate all their quinoa https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jan/16/vegans-stomach-unpalatable-truth-quinoa https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jan/16/vegans...
- zman0225 9y agoThis is particularly interesting. Having tasted Iberico, I just realized on similarities between it and Yunnan Ham, which I grew up on. https://munchies.vice.com/en_us/article/mgx3b4/china-has-an-insatiable-appetite-for-spains-beloved-iberico-ham https://munchies.vice.com/en_us/article/mgx3b4/china-has-an-...
- Cthulhu_ 9y agoThis is a good thing for the Spanish economy at least - they can charge higher prices, increase production, export more, etc. Some new jobs, probably not that much, but hey. They'd rely less on European subsidies (iirc Spain received a lot of agricultural subsidies - mind you last time I heard this was like ten years ago, idk if that's still up to date)
- wklauss 9y ago> increase production Maybe, but it's a risky bet. It takes years to cure a leg of good jamón ibérico and China is buying more today, but also investing in curing its own using the same methods and pig breeds. Same goes for the US. They now have serrano ham in Texas and Virginia, produced with the same breed of pigs used in Spain for ibérico. Only a matter of time before they start selling jamón "ibérico" made in the US.
- Double_a_92 9y agoSpaniard sounds like some insult...
- baybal2 9y agoSpanish ham is so so, I prefer Ukrainean
- microcolonel 9y agoOkay, then produce more. I don't get these "shortage" news stories. The only way you get a prolonged shortage like this is if the supply is naturally limited (which it isn't, for all intents and purposes) or if it is artificially limited (which it might be). Either way, the shortage is not because of increased demand, but because of reduced supply and/or incorrect (or deliberately manipulative) pricing.
- la_oveja 9y agoYou do understand that can take 4 years to make a high-end certified ham? And Spaniards buy this ham for Christmas?
- microcolonel 9y agoSure, but they could just buy a half ham this year, or not buy ham, or pay more for it than Chinese people are willing to pay. If some Spaniards go hamless this year, it will not be a tragedy, and it will be entirely in their power to correct. Christmas comes once a year, so prices are flexible for those who must have the hallowed ham.
- bane 9y agoThe first time I visited Spain it was as a temporary launch-off point to get somewhere else. I ended up returning a short-time later for a 5 day visit just because the food was so good. I'm pretty much convinced that Spanish pork, cheeses and wine may be the best in the world. Italian cold cuts and French cheese and wine seem like very good efforts in comparison. (okay, I'm think there's a reasonable run-off between wines from Spain, Argentina and Chile for best) I've spent years since then trying to even emulate the humble jamón bocadillo locally to no success. It's becoming something of an obsession.
- Const-me 9y agoWe have a good one, too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Njeguški_pršut https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Njeguški_pršut