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

theguardian.com

41–50 of 153 posts

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

#41

It is already very expensive outside Spain. A similar, more affordable ham is Jamón Serrano.

Note 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] htt…

Jamón 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.

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

#43

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'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.

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

#44

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.

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

#46
post #39

This must be how the Peruvians felt when Western vegans ate all their quinoa https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jan/16/vegans...

And that Guardian article was dispoven nonsense: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/dont-worry-eating-...

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

#47
This 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)

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

#48
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a very good question. When supply is limited and demand rises, you adjust the price accordingly.

Particularly for a luxury good... Something about this story doesn’t smell right.

The story literally talks, repeatedly, about how the Chinese demand is pushing up prices.

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

#49
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…

They also are responsible for a shortage of baby milk powder and baby food from Germany, the Chinese buying all markets empty. At least that was in the news a few years ago

More like an opportunity for Europe to earn a lot of money once they manage to increase production. There's still a lot of wealth inequality, both inside countries (e.g. the UK) and in Europe itself (the former DDR is a good example).

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

#50
post #44

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.

No probably not, and I hope the name is protected so substandard mass produced stuff is clearly marked as such.
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