Prentis urges pig farmers to send in contracts for inquiry into 'broken' pork supply chain

It comes as pig producers have endured more than a year of negative margins. Farming Minister Victoria Prentis has urged pig producers to send in copies of their contracts to assist with the inquiry into the broken pork supply chain.Her request came during Defra Questions in the House of Commons last week, where Shadow Farming Minister Daniel Zeichner noted one problem was the failure of processors to honour farmer contracts."How much more suffering has to be endured before the Minister does as she has hinted and pass this to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) so we can find out what has been going wrong in what increasingly looks like a broken market?" he asked.In response, Ms Prentis said she had begun a serious and systematic review into the pig supply chain, which may result in regulatory change but it had been difficult to find copies of contracts.She said: "We will refer matters to the CMA at the appropriate time when we have the right evidence." One producer said feed costs had increased from 78/pig in April 2021 to 101/pig this month but could hit 119/pig in April, while another forecast losses of 50/pig, meaning a 700-sow pig unit will lose 1 million in the next year.Another added his business overall costs of production had risen from 160p/kg in December to more than 200p/kg now, sparking calls from the National Pig Association (NPA) for a large and immediate price increase from retailers.Cranswick has confirmed a 16p hike in its weekly price and two more big players have upped prices by 12p and 16p but this is not yet enough to bring producers close to break even point.NPA chair Robert Mutimer said pricing mechanisms had failed to keep up.He said EU pig prices had shot up in the last week or so, with Germanys price up more than 23p on the week and similar shifts elsewhere, leaving the UK trailing behind.And some producerswere making decisions about their future now.Mr Mutimer said: "We are staring down the barrel of a total collapse of the British pig industry, which is not only a tragedy for the producers, themselves, but will leave UK consumers short of one of their favourite and most versatile meats." marginsNegative margins in 2021PIG farmers lost 39 per pig in the last quarter of 2021, with continued increases in feed costs and low prices.The last time pig producers were estimated to be making a positive net margin was the third quarter of 2020, according to AHDB.The losses have increased from 13 per pig in the previous quarter with the situation expected to have worsened as feed and other input costs continue to rise on farm.

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Prentis urges pig farmers to send in contracts for inquiry into 'broken' pork supply chain

It comes as pig producers have endured more than a year of negative margins.

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Prentis urges pig farmers to send in contracts for inquiry into 'broken' pork supply chain

It comes as pig producers have endured more than a year of negative margins.

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