Comment: Disappointing news from a number of, but not all, processors last Friday. Pig farmers were given quotes of 4c to 6c/kg less than the outgoing week. After the dust settled, it resulted in a lot of pig farmers accepting 4c/kg less than last week. IFA pigs chair Tom Hogan said that there was little justification for dropping prices. “The European market had forged well ahead of the Irish price over the summer and eased slightly in recent weeks. A number of processors had taken this as an excuse to follow suit. After a 12-week time lag in following the upward trend in EU pig prices, they cannot decide to impose a penalty on Irish pig producers as the EU market stabilises after they experienced prices in excess of €1.80 for a number of months.” Official pig price quotes remain static around the €1.70c/kg mark. Irish pig farmers need to have the current market returns which are evident across the main pig-producing countries of Europe reflected in an immediate price increase, Hogan stated. There has been upward movement in both the slaughter pig price and weaner trade in Europe over the past few weeks with processors paying significantly above the Irish price of €1.70c/kg.