Covid-19 concerns in pig sector

Livestock market news

Lots of pigs in animal shed eating, standing and lying. Meat industry concept.

Pig farmers have expressed concerns that any further Covid-19 outbreaks could impact on worker health and safety, and possibly disrupt pig processing, after the unscheduled closures of two factories in Offaly and Kildare which are major customers for Irish hams from primary processors.

“The very nature of pig farming is that output is continuous and disruption in processing capacity will cause many difficulties to the entire supply chain, especially at farm level,” said an IFA spokesperson.

However, Irish prime pig prices were not affected, staying at up to €1.64– 1.68/kg in the main export plants this week. 

Instead, the major Covid-19 price effect in the EU has been on cull sow prices, particularly after the closure of the Tonnies processing plant in Germany, which limited available sow processing capacity.

The sow price in Germany fell to its lowest level since 2014, and fell about 70% in the main continental pig producing countries, since April. 

Tonnies has now reopened, which will ease some of the cull sow market pressures, and Chinese importers are reportedly ordering large quantities of pork, which will also help the pigmeat market.