Following the initial 4c/kg drop in pig price three weeks ago by both Rosderra and Kepak, both Dawn Pork & Bacon and Staunton’s have adjusted their suppliers’ price downwards by similar amounts. This leave the base quote in most plants at €1.60c//kg this week, with a good number of suppliers negotiating 2-4 c/kg above base price for larger numbers and earlier delivery.
Reflecting on the year to date, a year that was predicted and anticipated to return the bank balances of all pig farmers into the red, after a extremely volatile three years of mostly below cost price, most pig farmers and expert analysts are left scratching their heads. The world remains in serve deficit of pigmeat, with the effect of ASF wiping out almost 20% of the worlds pig production capacity, and demand has removed constant, but price has fallen to near break-even levels. While €1.60c/kg is nothing to wrote home about, unfortunately it remains well above the EU average price of €1.52c/kg.