The differential between UK and EU pig prices is at its highest in living memory and has been in that position for almost a year, according to BPEX.
Normally this would lead to cheaper continental imports being sucked in, leading to an adjustment in prices.
But so far, this has not happened, in part, it is believed, due to the pledge taken by retailers and food service firms to stock British following the horsegate scandal.
Speaking at the AHDB Outlook conference, AHDB senior analyst Stephen Howarth said: “The majority of those organisations seem to have stuck to the pledge and are still stocking their shelves with British product.
“However, it is now more important than ever for all those organisations to stick to their pledge. Despite there being a huge differential in price, the amount pig producers in this country are being paid has fallen below the cost of production.
“With our forecasts showing that there will be more pork available this year, demand for British pigs will need to be stronger for the price decline to reverse.
“However, pork now represents great value for the consumer with UK pigs having fallen in price by more than 15% since the summer.”
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.
