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Spaniards face ham shortage as Chinese market gets taste for jamón ibérico

theguardian.com

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Re: Spaniards face ham shortage as Chinese market gets taste for jamón ibérico

#101

Post by bane »

The 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.

Re: Spaniards face ham shortage as Chinese market gets taste for jamón ibérico

#102

Post by lhopki01 »

VeejayRampay wrote: post #79
danso wrote: post #5

Besides 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 A…

Frenchman here, the shortage of butter is partly related to an increase in consumption of butter in China (and the United States as well) but honestly it is also partly explained by a problem with the supply chain in the country. We produce huge surplus of milk every year, farmers end up having to throw it away because of EU regulation, so there's no reason why we should have a shortage of butter.

This hasn't been true for decades. There are no milk lakes anymore because of the CAP. Spreading lies doesn't help matters.

Re: Spaniards face ham shortage as Chinese market gets taste for jamón ibérico

#103

Post by EugeneOZ »

dazc wrote: post #44
EugeneOZ wrote: post #34

I 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.

But not all jamon is the same , apparently. Not, alas, to my typical Northern English palette though.

Yes, but still: I buy jamon leg almost every week, it’s always Iberica, and I’m sure there is a lot of Iberica Bellota in shops. You are welcome to check it yourself :)

Re: Spaniards face ham shortage as Chinese market gets taste for jamón ibérico

#104

Post by diroussel »

danso wrote: post #18
jfoutz wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only 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.

Modern 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…

When Bond enters the offices in Shanghai there is a Chinese security guard, but the actual office is quite distributive and is just north of Liverpool Street station in London. So does that count as “set in China”

Re: Spaniards face ham shortage as Chinese market gets taste for jamón ibérico

#105

Post by edwinjm »

danso wrote: post #5

Besides 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 A…

At the same time European movies had to cut down on the showing of breasts to suit the US market. We think that's kind of amusing. Imagine kids seeing breasts! The horror!

Re: Spaniards face ham shortage as Chinese market gets taste for jamón ibérico

#106

Post by edwinjm »

angarg12 wrote: post #35

We 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.

I think you're right. Everybody knowns parmaham, but much less serranoham. While similar, the first is from Italy and the second from Spain.

Re: Spaniards face ham shortage as Chinese market gets taste for jamón ibérico

#107

Post by icebraining »

wccrawford wrote: post #96
icebraining wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The storytelling (...) isn't quite there yet Funny comment, since the story and screenplay writers are actually Americans :)

Direction and production mean a lot to storytelling, too, though. It's not enough just to write a good script.

Yes, fair enough, my comment was a bit tongue-in-cheek. Although by the description of the plot, I don't think any direction could have saved it.

Re: Spaniards face ham shortage as Chinese market gets taste for jamón ibérico

#108

Post by J-dawg »

angarg12 wrote: post #35

We 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.

Prosecco is a good example of that. At least in the UK, anyway. Many British people are absolutely obsessed with the stuff, to the point where it forms part of their identity (See [0]). The Prosecco industry have done an astonishingly good job of marketing it over the last 10 years or so.

I'm not a wine connoisseur, but when it comes to "cheap Champagne substitutes" I've always thought that Cava is basically just as good. And I'm aware that phrase will probably offend lovers of all three drinks!

[0] https://duckduckgo.com/?q=prosecco+wall+sign&iar=images&iax=...

Re: Spaniards face ham shortage as Chinese market gets taste for jamón ibérico

#109

Post by yardie »

jpatokal wrote: post #82
VeejayRampay wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Frenchman here, the shortage of butter is partly related to an increase in consumption of butter in China (and the United States as well) but honestly it is also partly explained by a problem with the supply chain in the country. We produce huge surplus of milk every year, farmers end up having to throw it away because of EU regulation, so there's no reason why we should have a shortage of butter.

The actual explanation is rather more boring: almost all butter in France is sold to supermarkets, who negotiate prices once a year. If world market prices are higher, dairy products sell elsewhere instead and French supermarkets run dry. https://www.economist.com/news/europe/21730877-forget-about-...

How do you lock in a price and not lock in the supply. You can make anybody agree to any price but if they don’t deliver the goods you haven’t negotiated anything.

During the ‘06-07 fuel price spike some airlines locked in a price and were able to keep decent fares. Others didn’t and added all sorts of surcharges. I couldn’t imagine them hedging fuel prices and not getting it delivered.

Re: Spaniards face ham shortage as Chinese market gets taste for jamón ibérico

#110

Post by VeejayRampay »

lhopki01 wrote: post #102
VeejayRampay wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Frenchman here, the shortage of butter is partly related to an increase in consumption of butter in China (and the United States as well) but honestly it is also partly explained by a problem with the supply chain in the country. We produce huge surplus of milk every year, farmers end up having to throw it away because of EU regulation, so there's no reason why we should have a shortage of butter.

This hasn't been true for decades. There are no milk lakes anymore because of the CAP. Spreading lies doesn't help matters.

There's been a change 2 years ago with the end of quotas [1]

Also, I'm absolutely not trying to spread lies about the topic, just pointing out that there's no good reason for France to be facing a shortage of butter given our dairy-production capacity (and those of our European neighbours).

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_quota

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