Pig producers are moving into “crisis management territory” the IFA warned, as a 12c/kg cut in prices over the last fortnight has piled further pressure on the troubled sector.
The top-graded price for pigs fell to 178c/kg this week, back from 190c/kg at the beginning of July.
However, Michael Caffrey, IFA pig committee chair, pointed out that the vast majority of producers are getting just 169-173c/kg, with those on flat prices receiving 168-169c/kg.
Prices have fallen by 55c/kg or more than 30% from their peak levels last summer and Caffrey is calling for urgent action to halt the downward spiral.
Most farmers are now operating in a loss-making situation, Caffrey maintained.
“The feed cost is 125-126c/kg, with a further 60c/kg needed to cover non-feed costs. That puts the break-even price at 185-186c/kg, so we’re talking of losses of around 15-17c/kg or €13-16 per pig,” he said.
“We are now moving into crisis management territory, and we need a plan to address the slide in prices,” Caffrey insisted.
The IFA representative said it was difficult to fathom why pig prices were in free-fall at a time when both beef and lamb were holding close to record levels.
“Using farmers’ arithmetic, the price of beef was traditionally 2.6 times that of pork – but beef is currently 4.5 times the price of pork,” Caffrey maintained.
“Now, I don’t begrudge what beef and lamb producers are getting, not at all, but we need to get our prices up. And we just can’t seem to do it,” he said.
The downturn in Irish pig prices over the last year has been blamed on increased volumes of Spanish product being sold on the British market, displacing Irish pork and bacon.
Spain is currently locked out of the vital Chinese market due to fears that wild boar in the country had contracted African swine fever.
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