One quarter left in 05 : Ireland €1.30, EU €1.42

By James Brady

08 October 05 : As has been highlighted throughout 2005 Irish prices have lagged considerably behind other EU countries and this has lead to a 12c/kg price gap entering the final quarter in 2005.

This puts Irish prices at just 91.5% of the EU average. This is a poor performance by any standard. The table below gives a comparison between Irish and EU prices over the last 4 years

For Ireland to achieve even its average performance above, for 2005, Irelands price would need to be at least 98% of the EU average for the remainder of 2005.

At the current EU average of €1.43, Irelands price would need to increase from its current reported figure of €1.35 to €1.40/kg. What are the bets on this being achieved?

Prices remain unchanged and range from €1.33 to €1.38, with 6c/kg more available for welfare pigs, while €1.36 to €1.39 is still the regular price for lighter pigs into the pork plants. Southern pigs going into the North continue to get the 4-6c/kg premium over that being paid by Southern plants.

The sow price range early in the week was still from €33 (€0.93) to a top of €37 (€1.06).

Comparison between Irish & EU prices over the last 4 years