Sow prices under the spotlight

By James Brady

For the past number of months producers have been querying the price of sows in Ireland and it appears from a review of prices since the start of 2004 their concerns are well founded. The table below, which has prices for a number of EU countries, shows that there is a very significant discrepancy in sow values in Ireland compared to even the lowest price in this league, the Danes.

The Irish price is based on a price from a number of producers across the country, while the UK, German and Danish prices are published weekly. The average liveweight price for Ireland of €25 per hundredweight since the start of the year is the higher end of the price scale reported by producers. It would be difficult to explain the very significant price gap other than to highlight the lack of competition amongst buyers in Ireland. There are approximately 1,500 sows slaughtered each week by three companies, Green Pasture Meats in Drumlish, Glanbia in Edenderry and Duffy's of Gort.

At home the pig price drop of 4c/kg was entirely unexpected by producers. There was a lot of finger pointing on Friday as to who led the prices down, but the bottom line is, as usual all prices fell by the same amount in the South, while Northern prices reportedly fell by 3c/kg. Prices now range from €1.33 to €1.36, while pork are paying a net price of €1.40 on average this week. The bonus for 'welfare' pigs remains at 6 cent/kg into both Northern and Southern plants. Sow prices are variable with the lowest quote €24 and the highest €33 last week. Weaner demand is steady with prices averaging €48 for 32kg.