Pig Market Update 24th June

Another stable week for Irish pig prices with farmers receiving €1.64c/kg – €1.68c/kg in all the main export plants again this week.

The major development in the trade was the knock-on impact that the closure of a large pork processing plant in Germany is having on cull sows. This plant was the destination for many Irish sow carcasses and has caused major distribution to the sow kill since the end of last week. The sow trade has suffered greatly since the onset of Covid-19 restrictions with prices paid dropping from above €1/kg to around 60c/kg in recent reports. This latest delay to sow throughput is not going to help this specialised market improve. Prime pigs on the other hand seem to be tighter in supply in recent days with reports of factories actively looking for pigs. Hopefully this will transpire into a general price recovery and return some of the 32c/kg cut from the pig price since the Coronaviruses pandemic began.