Pig market: 01/05/2017

Prices reported to IFA

Comment: Chair of the IFA pigs committee Tom Hogan said the Irish pig price remained stable for another week. The recent run of short working weeks has made procurement managers’ task of filling the weekly kill that much easier. That said, the recent bank holidays have not led to any build-up of finished pigs on farms, with a number of the main processors very anxious for pigs and competition to secure sufficient stock is set to intensify over the coming weeks. Quotes from the main export processors remain in the range of €1.68/kg to €1.70c/kg, with the majority of deals being done at the upper end of this range. Deals up to €1.74c/kg were reported as being paid for spot loads and lighter pigs. The positive price increases across the EU over recent weeks has left the Irish price lagging behind the EU average. Hogan called on all pig processors to follow these markets trends and return more to farmers with increased pig prices.