A spokesperson from a feed mill in the midlands has said that the current price increase on nuts and ration - €20 and €15/t respectively - is only to cover the increase in raw material costs.

The rising costs of haulage - namely diesel - and other inputs which go into the production and delivery of animal feed have been overlooked at the minute and are yet to be addressed.

"Ingredient prices have been so bad that this price increase is just to try and recoup that side of things, nothing has been passed off in terms of haulage or productions costs or anything else," he said.

The spokesperson said that in order to cover all costs, another hike in feed price is likely early in the year.

Price rise

"We are up about €90/t on pig feeds and about €80/t on ruminant feed since prices started to rise back at the start of last year."

Supply doesn't seem to be the issue, the spokesperson said. However, he did say that there is an increased urgency to have supplies booked in time.

"Supply is okay, but you have to have it booked. If you left it til Friday to book stuff in, you might not get certain things. You need to be six weeks ahead of yourself."

He said that this is with regards to amino acids and minerals in particular.

Wheat prices before Christmas of €330/t were "extremely high" and probably linked to the tax Russia placed on the export of wheat, the spokesperson said.

"That stopped a lot of wheat coming from Russia where our wheat comes out of and cut us off from a big chunk of the supply," he said.

The spokesperson commented on the fact that everything is rising in price.

"A couple of years ago, if we were paying €210/t for wheat we would have been annoyed. Now, we are paying €310/t-plus."

Haulage

He said that haulage costs have risen about 10% to 15% and their outside hauliers are screaming for more money.

Commenting on the fact that 2022 is set to be a year of increased concentrate use on farms, the spokesperson said: "Yield will be down because people are going to spread less or minimal fertiliser and, to be honest, we are looking at higher meat prices to counteract all this."