For Irish pig producers there was no announced change to pig prices last Friday heading into the sunny bank holiday weekend, with farmers reporting quotes of €2.34 – €2.42 available among Irish processing plants. Barbecue season is in flow and supermarkets have increased their offerings of barbecue meats on retail shelfs as demand increases for these products.
Year to date the weekly slaughter figures are back circa 12% on fatteners processed for the same period last year.
The average European price for a grade E carcass pig for week 22 was 241.4/kg which is 29.2% higher than prices for the same week last year.
Update from Agritel is that In France, the Ministry of Agriculture estimates the winter barley harvest at 9.07 million tonnes, compared with 8.45 million tonnes last year. Rapeseed production is also estimated to be up on last year, at 4.63 million tonnes compared with 4.51 million tonnes, mainly as a result of the increase in acreage to 1.35 million hectares compared with 1.23 million hectares last year. The average winter barley yield for France is estimated at 6.83 t/ha, and that for rapeseed at 3.44 t/ha, compared with 6.54 and 3.68 t/ha respectively last year.
