There was no change to the Irish pig price Friday last with farmers now receiving quotes of €2.04c/kg up to €2.12/kg from processing plants in Ireland.
The weekly throughput figure for fatteners for week ending 22nd of January was 68918.
The average Irish pig farm continues to operate in negative margins. Teagasc figures demonstrate circa €14 loss per pig sold currently on Irish family farms. While grain spot market prices have come back to in and around €300/tonne, soya spot prices, if you can get it are over €650 /tonne which has eroded any benefit or potential benefit that farmers may have attained from the grain price.
The cost of production of a pig continues to be much higher than farmers have been accustomed to, but with increasing compliance costs now also playing a huge factor (as well as feed, energy, labour etc) the price which is paid for our product must reflect this in order for pig farmers to operate in a sustainable manner. According to the European Commission, the average EU Grade E pig price was €2.02/kg for week 2. This is up 53% on week 2 2022.
