Pig market: 25/03/2018

Prices reported to IFA

Comment: Prices remained static yet again this week, in spite of the continued upward trend in the major European pig producers’ prices over the past number of weeks. Despite some instabilities and fluctuations in the market, the overall sentiment is positive and industry sources all indicate that the market place is steadily improving, both domestically and in our main export markets of the UK, the EU and Asia. Irish pig farmers are selling pigs at a loss of just over €8 per pig again this week. This translates into a loss on the average finishing unit of almost €3,000 per week. How long can this be sustained? IFA pigs chair Tom Hogan called on the processing industry to pass on the overdue increase in pig prices this Friday to reflect the positive trade in pork and bacon on the home and export markets. Last week’s kill was 61,431, with the bank holiday Monday affecting the week’s total kill.