April 28, 2008

Feed price hikes prompt British farmers to slaughter pigs

To avoid sky-high feed prices, pig farmers in UK have opted to slaughter their animals as they are seen to register losses of GBP200 million this year.

The British breeding herd has already halved to 436,000 sows over the past decade. Mick Sloyan, who runs the British Pig Executive (BPEX), an industry association, is predicting a decline of another 10 percent this year.

BPEX said farmers are making a loss of GBP22 per animal due to high costs of wheat, corn and soymeal while reports state that many producers have already gone out of business.

In the first three months of the year, Sloyan said there has been a 35 percent increase in the number of breeding sows sent to slaughter and pig rearing is a "capital-intensive business."

Farmers are killing their breeding stock rather than face the cost of feeding sows and piglets, further reducing the industry's viability that supplies only half the pork and bacon consumed in Britain.

European pig farmers are filling the gap, said Sloyan, who added that British animal welfare regulations increased the cost of British pork while giving an advantage to cheaper continental European meat, produced under less favourable conditions.

Escalating grain prices have increased the cost of feed by 70 per cent since 2006 and have pushed up the cost of producing pig meat by about 45 per cent over two years.

While the cost of bacon in the shops has risen over the past year, meat prices have failed to keep pace with the cost of animal feed, which is rising sharply. Sloyan said that farmers needed a 50 per cent increase in the farm gate price to recoup their costs.

Sloyan predicted that there would be a "reaction in the market" as prices would rise when shortages became noticeable on the shelves.