February 3, 2022

UK swine industry says slaughter backlog result of butcher shortage

The UK swine industry said it is badly affected by a slaughter backlog of more than 170,000 hogs after the mass departure of east European workers led to a shortage of butchers, Reuters reported.

Rob Mutimer, National Pig Association (NPA) chairman, as well as Minette Batters, National Farmers Union (NFU) president, said emergency measures introduced to soften the Brexit impact and COVID-19 are not working.

In a joint letter to George Eustice, Britain's Environment Minister, the groups said the situation is dire on pig farms in terms of the backlog and financially.

The UK government offered six-month emergency visas to 800 foreign butchers but according to the NPA, only 105 that have arrived or are due to arrive.

Trade bodies said farmers were losing money on every swine, with about 30,000 sows lost over the past six months or 10% of the total swine population in the country.

They said tens of thousands of healthy swine were being culled as farms have no more space and urged the government to hold an emergency meeting with the supply chain to come up with solutions.

They also urged the government to call on retailers to run marketing compaigns to boost pork sales in the country, encouraging processors to clear backlogs.

A spokesman from the UK government said it expects progress on reducing swine backlogs over the coming months.

-      Reuters