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The total number of pigs in Ireland in June 2020 has been estimated at 1,632,100 - an increase of 1% compared with June 2019, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has reported.
The population consists of 1,488,400 non-breeding pigs and 143,700 breeding pigs.
A comparison of the June 2019 and June 2020 figures shows that, in the breeding category, the number of sows for breeding increased by 13.6%, while the number of unserved gilts decreased by 13%.
Prices
Pig prices are unchanged in the range of €1.60/kg to €1.64/kg. The weekly kill is running at up to 66,000 head per week and kill to date in 2020 is 15,000 head up on 2019.
The Cranswick slaughter plant in Northern Ireland has resumed operations and this will start to ease the backlog of fit pigs there. It could be some days before the plant gets up to full capacity.
Producers in the north and south of the country remain concerned about further possible outbreaks of coronavirus at slaughter or processing plants disrupting their weekly sales of pigs.
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