Pig farmers hope that trends of rising factory prices and lower feed costs will continue further into 2023, fuelling optimism in the sector after a period of unprecedented losses.

Current prices are hovering around the breakeven mark of €2.08/kg, with some more efficient farmers and home mixers just back in the black.

Farmers attending the Irish Pig Health Society’s symposium on Tuesday were hopeful of imminent price rises, as factories are under pressure to secure pigs as supplies remain tight both in Ireland and across the EU.

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Ireland’s sow herd is down around 9% on last year, as farmers cut back on numbers to save costs and to avail of Pig Exceptional Payment Scheme supports made available under the condition of a 10% herd cut.

Further price rises are nee?ded to take Ireland ahead of the EU average pigmeat price and allow farmers to begin repaying borrowings taken out to keep them afloat in 2022.

“We have come to a very, very different place to where we were last year, and the scarcity has at last kicked in,” IFA pig chair Roy Gallie told the Irish Farmers Journal.

“We are now selling pigs rather than asking for them to be taken away from beneath our feet, which leaves the farmers much more confident than they were.”