Macedonian citizens make manji with homemade pork, and salami producers have to import it. At the moment, according to Slobodan Kutrevski, general director of "Pekabesko", frozen pork as a raw material can be found on the stock exchanges, but it is expensive, due to high customs duties. He reminds "Sloboden Pechat" about the nebula according to which all types of fresh or frozen meat for processing from imports are burdened with customs duties even though it is not in the country. On the other hand, there is a duty-free import of all kinds of salami from the countries with which we have bilateral agreements - Serbia and Montenegro, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, so 1.900 tons of finished products enter the country every year without duty!

- Instead of hosts, we are guests in our own market. That is the truth and we must fight for a place in the refrigerators. With that, domestic producers are put in an unequal position, so instead of Macedonian producers becoming exporters, they are fighting to keep the domestic market. All salami from the CEFTA countries enter with "0" customs duty, and customs duty is charged for European products, of course after the duty-free quota is met - adds Kutrevski.

Apart from the minimal price reduction of cured meat products from 7 to 10 percent, the citizens complain that these products are too expensive for them, so they almost completely removed them from the menu. Starting from the most ordinary ham, to roast beef and prosciutto, the prices of these products reached up to 900 denars per kilogram. The luxury import program is sold at prices over MKD 1.200 per kilogram!

- The prices of pork continue to rise and, together with sugar, they are breaking records. Meat for processing can be found, but for those who are ready to pay dearly for it - points out Kutrevski.

The European Commission predicted a decrease in pig production from January to March this year by 5,1 percent compared to the first quarter of 2022. According to analysts' predictions, this sector will experience the biggest losses in Germany and Denmark, where the decreasing trend will be six percent, followed by Spain with around four percent. The price of animal feed, which dictates the pace of production in the pig industry, had the greatest impact on this situation. According to the Dutch Rabobank, corn was sold at a price 14 percent lower in the first week of January compared to the end of October 2022. The price of feed wheat fell by 11 percent. In the coming period, a further drop in prices and a reduction in costs for producers is expected. But it will not bring lower prices in retail, which is of interest to consumers in Macedonia.

About thirty modern production capacities for meat processing and production of cured meat products are operating in the country, whose capacities can fully satisfy the demand of the domestic market. Research shows that as many as 77 percent of consumers declare that they recognize the Quality Mark and decide to buy the product bearing that mark.

Macedonian families most often buy ham and special salami (annual consumption per household statistically amounted to 6,5, i.e. 4 kilograms. According to consumption, hot dogs follow with 3 kilograms, tea sausage with 4,8 kilograms, then bacon and pork roast with 3,3, i.e. 1,4 kilograms. Mortadella is the least bought - 1,1 grams per year. And at least statistically, not a gram of crackers.