Pig Market Update 30th April

There was no change to Irish pig prices on Friday last following an increase of 4c/kg the previous week. The demand for pigmeat is still rising as we near warmer weather across the EU. Farmers are reporting quotes of at least €2.20 - €2.28 available from processors in ROI, with some reporting up to €2.30/kg.

The average European price for a grade E carcass pig for week 16 was €2.19/kg (Excluding vat), which is still behind by 8% on prices for the same week last year according to the Commission and is slightly up on last month's average EU grade E carcass price.

The weekly throughput for week ending April 28^th was 62,937 of which 1,797 were sows.

Throughput figures in the republic of Ireland for Q1 totalled 795,576, with finishers representing a decline of just 1% on the same period last year. Exports to NI are also practically the same with 86,814 ROI pigs exported to NI during the first quarter. When you compare the data for 2022 throughput versus 2023 and 2024, volumes are back 11% on the number of finishers processed in 2022 for Q1. In Q1 2022, there were 893,667 finishers processed in ROI and 104,692 exported to NI for slaughter.