PIG PRICES CRISIS
IFA response
Pig producers came out strongly on
Wednesday to support the pigs committee at their protest at IBEC and I
am asking that all farmers would
keep in contact with the pigs committee reps in their area for further updates. We have called on the processors to organise an open meeting
for all farmers and we have requested smaller supplier/factory meetings.
Please ask your factory representative when these meetings particularly
the open meeting will take place. We
will endeavour to keep all farmers
informed of activities.
Thanks for your support
Pat O’Flaherty,
IFA Pigs Committee Chairman
PIG SECTOR ONCE AGAIN
IN CRISIS CONDITION – IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED
IFA President Eddie Downey speaking from outside the headquarters of
the Irish Association of Pig Meat Processors (IAPP) said “pig farmers
have gathered here to protest against
the 42c/kg drop in pig prices suffered
by farmers in the last six months.
This price drop of €34 has left every
producer in the country in a loss
making situation, with many farms
facing ruin unless prices rise”.
Mr. Downey said the Agriculture
Commissioner Mr. Phil Hogan and
Mr. Simon Coveney need to push for
the introduction of market measures
in the EU that will effectively remove
Country
Ave Wk 1-1
Wk 1
Wk 1 2014
Netherlands
1.13
1.13
1.42
Belgium
1.21
1.21
1.41
Denmark
1.34
1.34
1.60
France
1.31
1.31
1.50
Spain
1.38
1.38
1.62
Germany
1.23
1.23
1.47
GB
1.58
1.58
1.95
Ireland
1.31
1.31
1.54
Pig Prices corrected for VAT,
kill Out Lean Meat Percentage (ISN) €/kg)
the excess product from the EU that as it will force farmers out of busiis depressing pig prices.
ness. Irish pig prices are just keeping in line with the EU average but
IFA National Pigs and Pig meat Comtoday’s price is 20c/kg below the cost
mittee Chairman, Pat O’Flaherty said
of production, a position that is obvi“The majority of our EU neighbours
ously completely unsustainable”.
held pig prices stable over the Christmas period and spot prices in our Mr. O’Flaherty said ‘there are two
largest market, the UK, actually in- sides to this, the political level and at
creased in the first week of the new- the Irish processors level. We accept
year. Despite this, some Irish facto- that pig prices have come under
ries dropped prices by 8c/kg over the pressure in the EU due to the RusChristmas period leaving farmers in a sian ban but our continental neighcompletely uneconomic position”.
bours have been protected from the
real pain of this ban by lower feed
Mr. O’Flaherty said “Pig farmers
prices. Irish feed prices have not
were on their knees before Christmas
dropped in line with the EU leaving
and this latest drop is unacceptable
us in a production cost squeeze that
Media Cont. Press release issued by IFA and Processor response
Commenting on the current pigmeat
market situation, and responding to
the IFA protest today, Joe Ryan of
the Irish Association of Pigmeat Processors (IAPP), said that current Irish
pig prices remain ahead of the European average, as they have done
over
the
last
12
months.
"Irish pig prices have remained well
ahead of prices in many of the major
pig producing EU Member States,
particularly those that are similarly dependent on export markets,"
he
said.
"While prices came under pressure during the second half of
2014, this is in line with the
trend across Europe. Nevertheless with Irish prices currently
140-145c/kg (depending on
grade), this price level is 1015c/kg ahead of our European
competitors.
"The market in the postChristmas period remains very
challenging. This is further exacerbated by the ongoing absence of the Russian market,
which was a very important outlet for Irish and European pigmeat. This is reflected in recent
calls from the main pig producing Member States, including
Ireland, for the European Commission to take action to support
the market. A point acknowledged by the IFA themselves.
is destroying farm viability. He said
the feed input sector as to take more
costs out of the supply system and
reduce prices further’
there is opportunism evident here
and this is absolutely unacceptable,
pig prices must rise immediately” Mr.
O’Flaherty concluded.
“The latest pig price drops were completely unwarranted, as it is clear to
see that our export market and our
home market continue to perform
really solidly. The factories cannot
continue to simply blame Russia,
The IAPP issued the following statement on pig meat
prices following the IFA protest
"Individual Irish pigmeat processors
continue to work to deliver the best
price possible for their producers, but
cannot
buck
the
market.
Equally processors are not responsible for feed prices in Ireland, which
make up a major part of input costs
and have as much influence on producer margin as the final product
price."
Following the protest, IFA held an
open meeting for farmers in Buswells
hotel where options were discussed.
Should prices not increase more action will be required and we asking all
producers for their support.
IFA
Pigs Committee Chairman Pat
O’Flaherty will be on countrywide
tomorrow morning with Damian
O’Reilly.
Pig Prices table
c/kg
Irish pig prices v. EU pig prices 2014
180.00
175.00
170.00
165.00
160.00
155.00
150.00
145.00
140.00
135.00
130.00
Jan14
Feb14
Mar14
Apr14
May14
Jun14
Jul-14
Aug14
Sep14
Oct14
Nov14
Dec14
Total
Ireland 161.5 156.2 151.7 158.7 164.7 170.1 172.4 164.2 158.3 153.0 149.0 144.2 158.7
EU
162.5
158
154.9 163.1 165.0 169.9 169.2 164.3 159.1 143.6 140.8
52 w/e
10 Nov
13
52 w/e
09 Nov
14
12 w/e
12 Oct
14
12 w/
e 09
Nov
14
Total Meat
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
Total Beef
30.5
30.0
29.5
30.1
Total Pork
12.1
11.3
12.4
11.8
Total Lamb
5.8
6.0
6.1
6.3
Sausages
9.5
10.0
9.8
9.6
Total Bacon
18.0
17.9
17.1
Total Chicken
21.0
21.8
23.8
000's Kgs %
135
157.1
000's Euros %
Total Meat
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
Total Beef
37.5
37.4
37.0
37.5
Total Pork
11.9
11.2
12.2
11.7
Total Lamb
8.2
8.5
8.7
9.1
Sausages
7.3
7.7
7.4
7.2
Total Bacon
16.3
15.9
15.2
15.4
Total Chicken
16.0
16.6
18.0
17.3
Total Meat
96.0
99.8
22.9
23.2
17.4
Total Beef
30.4
31.0
7.4
7.7
23.3
Total Pork
13.7
13.2
3.9
3.8
Total Lamb
8.6
9.3
3.0
3.1
Sausages
9.9
10.8
2.8
2.8
Total Bacon
18.2
21.7
19.0
23.0
4.6
6.5
4.7
6.4
7.26
8.92
7.30
9.10
7.31
9.16
7.28
9.05
7.14
7.20
7.19
7.22
10.32
10.37
10.43
10.44
5.58
5.61
5.50
5.49
6.58
6.47
6.46
6.43
5.52
5.55
5.52
5.40
Volume Per Buyer
Home Market Stable
The date above shows the home
market retail performance for the 52
weeks ending November 9th in comparison to the previous year as well
as the quarter ending November 14th
2014.
Annual pork and sausage prices
were up marginally and sales of pork
were marginally down with sausage
volumes continuing to improve in
sales. Overall the positon was relatively stable. Bacon value and volume sales increased very marginally
in the last quarter.
IFA are informed by secondary processors that they have not received
reductions in prices for the products
they buy from Irish processors. We
are also aware that there has been
an increase in
Total Chicken
the volume of
Average price per
imported product
KG
but based on the
Total Meat
increased volTotal Beef
ume of Bord Bia
approved product Total Pork
on the retail
Total Lamb
shelves it appears, this is not
Sausages
finding its way to
Total Bacon
retail in any maTotal Chicken
jor way and
therefore must
be getting soaked up by butchers and
the food service industry. IFA have
carried out a round of DNA testing in
this area and results are imminent,
however the organisation is investing
in a large volume of testing in the
coming weeks focusing on a number
of secondary processors and we will
be checking both quality assured and
non quality assured products. The
results of this testing will be published.
kets to providing more clarity on pig
prices and any farmer that is speaking
with a TD should raise the plight of the
As you can see from the table below,
substantially. The only other countries
Irish exports in the first 10 months of
of any significance that reduced volumes pig farmers and highlight the importance
2014 performed very well with volumes from Ireland were Germany, Northern
of the industry.
exported up by 12% (the value of these Ireland and Hong Kong with increases
exports was up by 9%).
recorded in the majority of our major
Gross Indigenous Production
markets including the USA and mainland
Russia in 2013 accounted for 17kt
There has been some talk that there is a
China.
(12.5%) of exported Irish product but
huge increase in pig numbers, although
this volume was covered by increased in We are asking the Minister to take a
numbers are up on 2013 for the full year
Japan, South Korea and the Philippians
more proactive role in all elements of
we are behind the numbers that were
whose volumes from Ireland were up
the pig industry from opening more mar- killed in 2012.
Irish Exports still booming
Year
ROI
NI
total
2011
2,758,557
601,695
3,360,252
2012
2,799,359
621,299
3,420,658
2013
2,731,267
571,253
3,302,520
2014
2,871,404
529,077
3,400,481
Quantity
Partner Country
Increasing production numbers was an
aim of the Food Harvest 2020 Strategy
that has driven on export volumes—
farmers should not be penalised for being better at their jobs. We are highlighting this to the Minister particularly
in light of the new Agri Food Strategy
that is currently being compiled.
% Share
% Change
Unit
2012
2013
2014
2012
2013
2014
2014/2013
World
T
138458
136334
152719
100.00
100.00
100.00
12.02
United Kingdom
T
54284
53370
57833
39.21
39.15
37.87
8.36
China
T
19311
19506
23163
13.95
14.31
15.17
18.75
Denmark
T
6705
5381
10974
4.84
3.95
7.19
103.95
Germany
T
10263
11209
9842
7.41
8.22
6.44
- 12.20
Japan
T
3680
1358
9270
2.66
1.00
6.07
582.71
Northern Ireland
T
6224
6551
6192
4.50
4.81
4.05
- 5.49
Philippines
T
942
1387
5400
0.68
1.02
3.54
289.20
Korea South
T
851
680
5104
0.61
0.50
3.34
650.72
United States
T
3216
2906
4346
2.32
2.13
2.85
49.55
Sweden
T
2813
3466
3692
2.03
2.54
2.42
6.53
Belgium
T
2228
2226
2436
1.61
1.63
1.59
9.41
Hong Kong
T
2740
2490
2302
1.98
1.83
1.51
- 7.58
Italy
T
1279
1216
1956
0.92
0.89
1.28
60.91
France
T
1931
1586
1791
1.39
1.16
1.17
12.92
Australia
T
0
947
1490
0.00
0.69
0.98
57.33
Russia
T
11401
17148
1300
8.23
12.58
0.85
- 92.42
Netherlands
T
1807
710
765
1.31
0.52
0.50
7.81
IFA National Pigs & Pig meat Committee 2015-2016
Mr
Pat
O'Flaherty
0872568337
[email protected]
Mr
Howard
McCollum
0866185572
[email protected]
Mr
Michael
Maguire
0868240300
[email protected]
Mr
Brian
Brady
0868517009
[email protected]
Mr
Brendan
Doherty
0868291444
[email protected]
Mr
Michael
McDonnell
0862589968
[email protected]
Mr
Donal
Brady
0872589511
[email protected]
Mr
Vincent
Conefrey
0862240062
[email protected]
Mr
Joe
Healy
0872511277
[email protected]
Mr
Colin
Marry
0872488792
[email protected]
Mr
Paul
Tully
0862310041
[email protected]
Ms
Rose
Fryday
0862548485
[email protected]
Mr
Ber
Gilsenan
0872700245
Mr
Tom
Sherman
0868338413
[email protected]
Mr
Tom
Hogan
0872658637
[email protected]
Mr
Richie
Norton
0864136003
[email protected]
Mr
John
Ryan
0862528329
[email protected]
Mr
Dick
Kingston
0872681602
[email protected]
Mr
Colm
Ryan
0879620306
[email protected]
Mr
Roy
Gallie
0868242009
[email protected]
Mr
David
Tyndall
0868790233
[email protected]
Mr
Oliver
Leddy
0863817650
[email protected]
Mr
Con
O'Kelly
0862579056
[email protected]
Mr
Michael
O'Doherty
0876526662
[email protected]
Mr
Philip
O'Brien
0868237676
[email protected]
If you have queries or comments on anything contained in this newsletter or the work of the committee,
please do not hesitate to contact any of the committee members.