The Christmas period has come and gone and pig prices have remained stable with prices ranging from €1.44c/kg up to €1.48 or €1.46 – €1.50/kg. While there were additional pigs processed in advance of Christmas, a backlog of pigs still remains to be processed.
Covid cases increased substantially over the past number of weeks while the rapid spread of the new variant persists to challenge at the beginning of yet another year. January is traditionally a slower month for meat sales however with people staying at home, it may help the sales of ham and bacon as people look for better value meat to feed families.
ASF still remains a very real threat and problem across Europe however the EU price has remained mostly stable over the Christmas period. Farmers have pulled through a very challenging few months with input costs spiralling; feed, energy, labour, transport to name but a few. The long-term view held by commodity market analysts expect the pig price to be under pressure for the first quarter of 2022 but then expect prices to recover in Q2 and Feed prices are expected to ease somewhat provided average yields are achieved hopefully allowing for some respite for pig farmers.
