There was no change to Irish pig price on Friday last with producers reporting quotes ranging from €2.08 – €2.13 available from processors in ROI.
The EU average price for week 49 for grade E carcass was €1.92/kg excluding vat. This represents a drop of -.5% over the past month and is -9% behind last year’s EU average price for the same week. There has been little change to EU pigmeat prices over the last six weeks, indicating an active demand for pigs in Ireland where processors were actively looking for available pigs.
The weekly throughput for week ending December 15th was 72,367, practically identical to last week, of which 1,966 were sows.
On the feed market, in wheat, markets are focusing on crop conditions, especially in Russia, where the winter temperatures have arrived without a thick snow cover. A full crop assessment will be needed at the end of winter, but the season is off to a poor start, as was noted by the Argus crop tour a few weeks ago.
Saudi Arabia has recently contracted nearly 800,000 tons of wheat. The pace of global exports will be important to watch, with Russia’s export quota of 11 million tons set to start in mid-February. Export flows from Russia are slowing at the end of this year due to the volatility in export taxes and weather conditions.
