There was a no official change in Irish pig prices last Friday with farmers reporting quotes of €2.02 – €2.06 available from processors in ROI. However, the market appears to be settling and turning a corner as some producers selling their pigs to smaller processors in ROI received an increase of 4c/kg while producers selling pigs to Northern Ireland are reporting higher prices available to them also.
The average European price for a grade E carcass pig for week 4 was €2.01/kg which is slightly behind prices for the same week last year according to the Commission, and it is back -4.6% on last month’s prices and -1.7% with the previous weeks average price. However, this week marks the levelling off of downward pricing among some of the main EU pig producing countries with no change in prices for Spain, Netherlands, Germany, France, Denmark, Belgium and GB.
Soyabean or Maize?
Early projections point to more soyabean acres and less maize in 2024. In its ten-year baseline projections, released in November, the USDA indicated a 4% year-on-year rise in the soyabean area in 2024. The USDA projections also included a 4% fall in the maize area and a 3% drop in wheat plantings.
The weekly throughput figures for week ending the 4th of February was 63,971 of which 1,419 were sows.
