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A price increase of 4c/kg has been welcomed by pig farmers but they still insist that more is needed to guarantee the viability of the industry.
“The price increase is welcome but we need an increase of between 12c/kg and 14c/kg to make a real difference,” Tom Sherman, chair of the IFA’s southern region pigs committee, said.
“Feed prices have increased and the price of pigs has gone down.
“We’re worried that people are being forced to leave the industry because of the low prices.”
Protests
The IFA pig committee has staged a number of protests at SuperValu stores across the country to highlight the issue of cheap imports undercutting homegrown products.
The committee, with IFA national treasurer Tim Cullinan, held a meeting with SuperValu parent company, Musgrave Group, recently to emphasise the issue.
According to the IFA pig price report last week, the price of pigs stood at €1.38/kg and feed costs stood at €1.10/kg.
“A margin of less than 30c/kg over basic feed cost per kilo of pigmeat is simply unsustainable and the results are being seen in the pig farms around Ireland,” the IFA said.
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