The vice-chair of the National Pig Association (NPA), Hugh Crabtree, has said that “better times” lie ahead in 2023.
However, he added that it is unlikely until “late-spring”.
Crabtree said pig farmers and suppliers will have to be patient, as any upturn in the market is not reflected in more business for them immediately.
“There’s a lag of at least three months,” he said.
“Assuming government plans to support agriculture by providing public funds for public good, then there will be grants available to improve facilities for more sustainable food production.
“There will be grants available to support altered production management to allow entire tails and grants for an accelerated move to loose lactation systems.
“In this last regard, the UK sector is well on the front foot having successfully demonstrated freer farrowing at commercial scale on many sites. Have cash, will invest and that means pig farmers need to be making money again.”
NPA chair Rob Mutimer is also slightly optimistic about 2023.
However, he said this year must be about “getting some profitability back into pig farms”.
“There are more positives than there have been for a while. I think we have got a shortage of pigs coming, both in this country and in the EU, but how big it will be and when it will materialise, I don’t know,” he said.
“The massive input inflation, particularly around feed costs, wrecked 2022 for many pig businesses, but that situation is improving.
“Wheat prices are down by £120/t from the May peak, although a lot of us have bought forward as we were worried about the market being short.
“It is also important to stress that, as they see input prices going down, that shouldn’t be a temptation for buyers slash the pig price, as the industry is still a long way from where it needs to be,” he added.
“Although some people are making a little bit of money now, there are still a lot of producers out there who are haemorrhaging money.
“People have not been able to invest over the past 18 months, and if they don’t start investing in their herds again, they won’t have a lot longer left in the industry and we could see a further contraction.”
