No change in Irish pig prices with farmers receiving €1.64c/kg – €1.68c/kg again this week. The influential German pig market took a major hit last week, with the price dropping by 13c/kg. The reasons for this continuing downward trend are explained to a large extent by the impact of Covid-19.
While Ireland appears to have be very successful in tackling the Corona virus, it remains an ongoing problem across the world and meat plants in continental Europe remain hotspots of infection. This has created an artificial backlog of factory ready pigs on the market entirely due to the reduced capacity to process these pigs. A number of plants remain closed, including the larger Tonnies plant in Germany, and operation in other plants is restricted to below normal capacity. While the is no risk of transfer of Covid in any meat products, the ongoing issues surrounding meat plants across continental Europe is not helping demand.