Pig farmers are piling pressure on factories to increase prices as supplies of finished pigs tighten and processors raise prices across the EU. The Irish pig sector saw record levels of borrowing last year amid unprecedented losses, and farmers faced an unexpected pull on prices back to the €2/kg mark in January – about 22c/kg below breakeven prices.

IFA pig chair Roy Gallie told the Irish Farmers Journal: “Ireland stands alone as being the only [EU] country with no movement on price.”

The price differential between EU and Irish prices widened to a record 45c/kg in March 2022, prompting IFA protests at pig processors and supermarkets.

It took almost three months for pig farmers to be brought into line with the average price received by their continental counterparts when this price gap opened last year.