Pig farmers dodged a  bullet

Pigmeat market report

Pig farmers depend on the Northern Ireland protocol in the  Brexit deal for their export of about 500,000 pigs annually north of the border.

Farmers who send about 500,000 pigs annually north of the border for processing by Karro in Cookstown, Co Tyrone, dodged a bullet last week, when the European Commission rapidly reversed its threat to invoke Article 16 of the Brexit protocol, a move which could have undermined borderless trade in Ireland.

Southern pig farmers depend heavily on frictionless cross-border trade, and there is a steady south to north trade in cattle also, whereas Northern Ireland farmers depend heavily on the Republic for its exports of milk and lambs.