Pig losses will top 250m, warns analyst

12 May 1999

Pig losses will top £250m, warns analyst

By FWi staff

LOSSES to pig farmers could top 250m before the crisis within the sector is resolved, a senior industry analyst warned this morning.

Producers still face an uphill struggle in their fight back to profitability, said Mick Sloyan, head of pig strategy at the Meat and Livestock Commission (MLC).

The slump in pig prices since last May has already seen producers lose about 230m, Mr Sloyan told reporters at the Pig and Poultry Fair in Warwickshire.

The rate of losses is slowing but still running at a rate of 2m a week, he added.

British pigs are trading at a premium compared with pigs from competing countries but total losses would reach about 250m before recovery, he said.

Last weeks UK reference price was 22p/kg higher than in France, 23p higher than in Denmark and 34p higher than in the Netherlands.

That is good news but Mr Sloyan warned that the road to a sustained recovery would not be easy.

“The immediate challenge the British industry faces is to sustain or even increase this premium further,” he said.

The crisis within the sector, caused by an oversupply of pigs in Europe and a drop in overseas demand for pigmeat, has been exacerbated by the strength of Sterling.

The UK national pig herd contracted by 12% over the past year from 802,000 in December 1997 to 705,000 in December 1998, according to MLC figures.

Mr Sloyan the industry would need to become more co-ordinated and co-operate more closely if it was to compete in the future.

“This will be a major challenge, but I am sure it is one the British industry will rise to,” he said.