Irish pig prices have fallen to €1.44/kg and could drop further, widening the gap with the minimum break-even point of €1.50/kg, IFA pig chair Tom Hogan said this Tuesday. “Prices now being paid to farmers are simply not sustainable and are well below the cost of production,” Hogan said.

After peaking at a three-year high above €1.60/kg in July, the Irish pig price has been falling constantly ever since. The latest EU figures show that at €1.44, the Irish price has fallen by 6.6% in the past year. It is currently 6c/kg higher than the EU average, which is also falling.

The industry... is in danger ceasing to exist

“The number of viable pig farmers has reduced dramatically over the last 20 years, with price volatility and uneconomic returns leaving only the most efficient producers remaining in business today. At current pig prices, the industry, which increased exports by 14% to €712m in 2017, is in danger ceasing to exist,” Hogan said, calling on processors to lift prices.

Bord Bia’s pit and poultry sector manager Peter Duggan told the recent meat marketing seminar that after a record weekly throughput of 75,000 pigs processed in early December, this year was expected to see stable Irish pigmeat supply. However, output from other EU member states was forecast to increase from the second quarter and US production continues to grow.

While Chinese demand dropped in the second half of 2017 as massive domestic sow cull, “for 2018 we are reasonably optimistic that there will be some upward movement in terms of import demand because that liquidation occurred in 2017,” Duggan told the Irish Farmers Journal.

Rabobank estimates that Chinese import demand for pigmeat and offal will increase from €2.5m last year to €2.7m this year.

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Watch: Irish buyers turn to Irish pig and poultry