Pig market: 05/03/2018

Prices reported to IFA

Comment: The red weather warming brought the pig processing sector to a standstill last Thursday and Friday. The kill of 42,153 was 38% down on the previous week’s kill of 67,825 due to the forced closures around the country. Pig farmers, like all other farmers, were tending to their stock full-time, making sure they had adequate supplies of flowing water and feed. Thankfully, no major damage was reported on pig units in the immediate aftermath of Storm Emma. The weather and closures resulted in a carryover into Monday and Tuesday of this week, and procurement managers escaped the inevitable lifting of the pig price. Reports from around the country are that with an extra day’s kill this Saturday, the backlog of pigs will not be significant. The price of €1.40c/kg that this week’s pigs are receiving is totally outdated and pig farmers wait with anticipation to see how big the increase will be this Friday.