Pig market: 29/01/2018

Prices reported to IFA

Comment: No change in pig prices this week. While stability is much needed in the pig sector, stability at the current pig price that is below the cost of production is of no benefit. With conservative figures putting the cost of production at €1.50c/kg-plus, the current pig price of €1.40c/kg must improve in the coming months if pig farmers are to stay in business. Unfortunately, the situation across other member states of the EU is similar, with prices running at 10.8% below the same week last year. The importance of China as an export market for Irish and EU pigmeat is clearly evident when analysing the export figures from 2017. There was a 26% reduction in exports to China in 2017 compared with 2016 from the EU, and this reduction is concentrated in the second half of 2017. This had a major influence on the price reduction that every Irish pig farmer has endured over the past number of months.