Market for pig farmers 'turning a corner'
Their Processors Increase Some Smaller To Pigs Of Producers 4c/kg Received Selling An
The market for pig farmers "appears to be settling and turning a corner", according to the Irish Farmers' Association.
Some producers selling their pigs to smaller processors received an increase of 4c/kg while producers selling pigs to Northern Ireland are reporting higher prices available to them also, the IFA's latest pig price and market report said.
Overall, there was no official change in Irish pig prices last Friday with farmers reporting quotes of €2.02-€2.06 available from processors in the Republic of Ireland.
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, and it is back 4.6% on last month’s prices and 1.7% on the previous week's 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 Great Britain, the IFA said.
The weekly throughput figures for the week ending February 4 was 63,971, of which 1,419 were sows.
The IFA said that early projections point to "more soybean acres and less maize" in 2024.
In its 10-year baseline projections, released in November, the United States Department of Agriculture indicated a 4% year-on-year rise in the soybean area in 2024.
The USDA projections also included a 4% fall in the maize area and a 3% drop in wheat plantings.
