In a letter to Defra Secretary Ranil Jayawardena, the National Pig Association (NPA) highlighted the “continuous loss-making position” of UK pig producers, collectively losing over £600 million since October 2020.
The letter was written in response to the pork supply review that the government has launched “to improve the fairness and transparency within the supply chain”, starting from 15th July 2022 and closing on 7th October 2022.
NPA chairman Rob Mutimer said in the letter that the British pig industry has “endured an unprecedented crisis” over the last two years as a result of labour shortages and Covid disruption in processing plants that led to “huge backlogs” on farms and the “needless” culling of tens of thousands of healthy pigs.
The letter said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine resulted in “exceptional” input cost increases, which have “pushed farmers from a very challenging financial situation to a critical one.”
Pig producers lost over £50 per pig earlier this year and Defra’s recent census in June revealed that pig numbers are at their lowest for 20 years, with the sow herd in England contracting by 17% in the last year.
Unprecedented opportunity
Mutimer explained that the UK pig industry is worth £1.6 billion at the farm-gate, £5 billion at retail and with foodservice, external sales and export, this values the industry at over £14 billion in total. In 2020, over 400,000 tonnes of British pork were exported around the globe to over 40 export markets which is a trade worth £655 million.
Mutimer said the on-going review into contractual practice in the UK pig sector is “hugely welcome” and allows an “unprecedented opportunity” to improve fairness and transparency throughout the supply chain.
He added: “It is a once in a generation opportunity to reset the balance of power and create an environment for the British pig industry to thrive again.”
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
