Traders wait for pigmeat export boost

By Peter Crichton

MEAT traders are forecasting a significant recovery in pig prices following the ECs decision to allow limited exports from 22 October.

Producers in foot-and-mouth-free counties will be eligible to send pigs to selected abattoirs for export, subject to stringent conditions.

Finished pig prices have already started to rise, with some producers holding out for 100p/kg deadweight for baconers on the spot market.

Contract prices are lagging well behind this, with most baconers trading between 94p and 97p/kg. The UK AESA is still lagging behind at 93.25p/kg dw, up 0.28p on the previous week.

Cull sow slaughterings are expected to slow while producers wait for export opportunities and higher prices.

Although group traders have been quoting cull sows as low as 20p/kg dw, there are signs that prices will move towards Northern Ireland levels, at 42p/kg dw, as exports become a reality.

But with a forecast queue of 50,000-100,000 cull sows in the system, it will be a long time before there are enough export-rated abattoirs to absorb the backlog.

Capacity will also be cut because of additional storage regulations, but manufacturing pigmeat and cuts will present less of a storage problem, which could add 7-10p/kg to a carcass.

• Peter Crichton is a Suffolk-based pig farmer offering independent valuation and consultancy services to the UK pig industry