Pig prices are unchanged this week in the range of €1.60/kg to €1.62/kg.

The weekly kill is steady, despite the continuing backlog of finished pigs in Northern Ireland, where operations at the Cranswick slaughter plant remain halted due to coronavirus cases among staff.

Demand for pigmeat remains firm. Producers in the south are, therefore, hopeful that prices will remain steady or could reverse the recent 4c/kg cut. Prices for finished pigs in Denmark and France have lifted by 1c/kg to 2c/kg in the past 10 days.

The disruption of slaughtering in Northern Ireland has been worsened by disruption in regular movement of live pigs from there to Britain for slaughter.

Some disruption is being caused by factory staff isolating after annual leave.