There was no change in Irish pig prices last Friday with farmers reporting quotes of at least €2.09 – €2.14 available from processors in ROI. This follows an increase in Irish pig prices by 4c/ kg on the previous weeks pigs sales which is of significant importance for Irish pig producers. Many Irish pig farmers still have quite a lot of debt to clear from the financial crisis of the pig sector and this further price rise brings some level of confidence to producers as the market continues to improve. Future markets are also looking strong.
The average European price for a grade E carcass pig for week 7 was €2.08/kg, which is still behind by -6.3% on prices for the same week last year according to the Commission, but is up 2.4% on last weeks average price.
Tightened supply strengthens prices. A clear example of this is from Spain, a leader in Europe when it comes to the production and export of pigmeat. However, according to the latest data published by CEXGAN, Spain’s exports to third countries last year of pork and prepared products was 1,346,625t which was 16% less than in 2022, when 1,599,340t were exported.
The weekly throughput figures for week ending the 25th of February was 61103 of which 1232 were sows as reported by DAFM.
