Thousands of pigs backed up on farms due to lack of demand

Tens of thousands of pigs are backing up on farms each week due to an oversupply in the market.

Many producers were given notice on contracts and now the National Pig Association says between 12,000 and 15,000 pigs have “nowhere to go”.

“Nobody else wants those pigs, because of the supply-demand imbalance,” said Lizzie Wilson, CEO of the National Pig Association. “There’s no market. The processors are up to slaughter capacity at the minute, plus some of them are struggling with labour as well.”

Wilson predicted that the situation was likely to continue until the market improved, which is forecast to be around Q2 next year.

“These pigs are now at slaughter weight, they’re running out of room, feed prices are going up so they’re expensive to feed and to continue to keep,” said Wilson. “If the farmer can’t get some away to slaughter soon then that’s when welfare starts to be impacted as well.”

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The NPA is looking into a “contingency plan”, which includes potentially sending pigs to Europe, but the price would be “significantly depressed” to as low as £1 per pig.

An added issue is that “Europe is also awash with pigmeat”, so will not be able to take it all. 

Wilson has called for government intervention as the sector has not been able to find a resolution to the problem themselves.

Stephen Morgan, minister for food, farming and fisheries, committed to convening a roundtable at an Efra Committee meeting last week but Wilson said more could be done to support the sector, including stimulating more demand for British pork. 

The NPA has also urged support for pigs on farm currently and a need to aid processors facing this challenge, whether financially or non-financially.

Wilson said the oversupply was a particular challenge in light of the recently launched consultation into CO2 gas stunning, which “adds insult to injury”.

The proposed transition away from the gas in two to three years has been deemed “virtually impossible” and Wilson has called for the consultation to be “withdrawn for the time being”.