There was no announced change to Irish pig prices last Friday. Irish pig farmers are reporting quotes of €2.38 – €2.42 and upwards available among Irish processing plants across the island.
The weekly throughput figure for ROI for week ending the 3rd of September was 61,143 of which 1,654 were sows.
The average European price for a grade E carcass pig for week 34 was 233c/kg which is 12.6% higher than prices for the same week last year according to the Commission, however, it is back 6% on last month’s prices. Small declines in prices have been observed in pig prices from MS such as Spain and France, whose prices were up over 2.50 and 2.60 and up to 2.80/kg for periods of time. German pig price held last week.
Overseas in our nearest neighbours, the number of pigs in England decreased to a 12-year low of 3.6 million in June 2023, as the impact of last year’s breeding herd contraction feeds through. Defra’s June census showed the total number of pigs in England was down by 12% over the year. The breeding herd has stabilised over the past year, however, the overall number of breeding pigs was up fractionally at 329,000 in June 2023, after losing 74,000 head in the year to June 2022, an 18% decline. The female breeding was slightly lower, however, at 257,000 head, a further 1.5% decline, after a 16% drop in the year to June 2022.