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NAME THE PRICE BY PIG FAIR
If you can guess what the Traffic Lights spot price will be by Pig Fair you could win £300 courtesy of Pig World and BPEX.
You need to make your guess by midnight, Thursday April 10, and you can do it using the form below.
There is serious intent to this competition: to remind the rest of the chain of why producers need price rises now — to prevent pigs becoming even more scare going forward.
Today's issue of Pig World carries guesses made on Easter Sunday by Sam Walton (137p), Digby Scott (126p) and Andrew Knowles (121p).
(Mind you, Mr Knowles — with his mind no doubt on matters more spiritual — comprehensively failed to read his brief, and submitted a figure for DAPP, not spot.)
• Full details in April Pig World.
• Footnote: The first two guesses to come in are from two of our leading producers... and they are both identical at ???
2/04/08
I support you, says Asda chief
The pig industry’s campaign for better prices to offset high feed costs has made significant strides since the London Rally last month.
• Secretary of state Hilary Benn has voiced his express support for the campaign.
• The pig price is continuing to rise, in Britain and on the continent.
• As a result of almost daily briefings by NPA, leading supermarkets are now making serious behind-the-scenes efforts to ensure increased prices are fed down to producers.
In an important move forward yesterday, Asda chief Andy Bond singled out pig producers for special mention. In response to a dialogue between the company and producer Richard Longthorp, he said:
“I understand that some of my recent comments regarding cost prices about our suppliers have caused concern amongst primary producers - the pig sector for instance.
“We at Asda fully understand and appreciate the problems being faced by the pig sector with the increase in pig feed costs. I would like to reassure them that my comments were certainly not aimed at them. We will continue to do all we can to support United Kingdom pig producers.
“And, while we do not purchase from pig producers directly, I have made it quite clear to all our processor suppliers that I expect to see a significant part of the previously agreed increased cost price which we pay to our processors passed back up the supply chain to the farm level.”
Andy Bond’s last sentence is particularly important. During the campaign so far, increases paid by retailers have not as a rule been passed on in full to their intended recipients, producers.
But with a network of producers keeping him informed of price developments, NPA chairman Stewart Houston is now able to have an on-going dialogue with retailers on this issue.
Nobody from BPISG was available for comment this morning, but it is expected that BPISG's planned rally outside Asda House in Leeds will now be put on hold.
Crucially for British producers, the supply of pigs from the continent is continuing to shrink.
Census results for December indicate the continental herd reduced by just under five percent last year. Is this enough to ensure £140p a kilo in Britain for as long as feed prices stay at their current levels?
NPA chairman Stewart Houston says it is reasonable to assume the reduction has accelerated during the first quarter of this year.
“A change of only a couple of percentage points in supply usually has a reasonable effect on price, so goodness knows where this will go.”
Other factors that will contribute to a strong British price are the strength of the euro, which is currently making imports around 14 percent dearer, and a predicted fall in the national herd (based on sow cullings) of 40,000-50,000 sows in the first half of this year.
As reported on this page at the weekend, the state of the pig industry in Denmark is critical. Despite producing a consistent product designed to meet the needs of the global pigmeat market, Danish producers are the poor men of Europe.
Producers usually get several pence a kilo more than the base price quoted by Danish Crown and they can expect a year-end bonus of 7-9p a kilo on every pig sold.
But annual bonuses and excellent productivity cannot repair the damage being wreaked on the industry by chronic low prices and many Danish producers would be better off quitting before the banks withdraw their support.
Danish Crown has said it cannot afford to pay its producers more because of the difficulties it faces on world markets where it has to compete against a weak United States dollar.
As predicted here last week, Danish Crown is to close a slaughterhouse and deboning unit this summer, and there may be a further closure before the end of the year.
The cooperative (which accounts for 90 percent of the Denmark’s pig slaughterings) sees slaughter in Denmark falling 4-5 percent over the next 12 months. This will have a major impact on pork availability in Britain.
A number of Danish producers now send their pigs to Germany for slaughter, where they get a better price, and this has contributed to the shortfall through Danish Crown slaughterhouses.
Slaughter weights are falling across Europe, according to price analyst ZMP, as producers send their pigs to slaughter earlier, in a bid to reduce feed costs.
Three Little Pigs tour at Ipswich today
Pictures by William Black.
Wendy Houston and Mum.
Simon Guise giving a radio interview.
Ekta Sopal, one of the BPEX campaigns team.
Two young pig farmers.
NFU and Land Rover
Fully paid up NFU members will be able to claim savings on a range of Land Rover vehicles including the Land Rover Defender, Freelander 2 and Discovery. The deal will also allow members to offset the increase in Vehicle Excise Duty when the new bands come into force in March 2009 for all vehicles with CO2 emissions over 225g/km.
1/04/08
» Picture gallery of the Three Little Pigs Tour so far is here.
Three Little Pigs in Hull
By Sam Walton
Passers by in Queen Victoria Square in Hull yesterday afternoon were entertained by the lilting tones of Stand By Your Ham blaring out over the Square, whilst being seduced by Lord Longthorp, at least the younger generation of females were!
He was continually surrounded by females whilst the other 20 or so of hard-up pig farmers were left to explain to the older generation the ins and outs of pig-keeping.
General opinion was that the public are aware of the efforts that have been put in by NPA, BPEX and farmers, were reasonably au fait with the problems and more than 90 percent supportive. (You always get one or two vegetarians or those who are afraid of the pigs.)
It was a good turn out from pig-keepers, large and small, many of whom had travelled a fair distance. The interesting thing was that both Richard Longthorp and Fred Henley were recognised from their television appearances and many had also heard about the demo on the local radio and from the Press.
It is gratifying that many families actually look for and support British and hopefully after this demo, many more will follow suit.
As I drove away from Hull, Sue Woodall was giving an excellent account of the day’s proceedings on local radio, and advertised the fact that on Saturday at the forthcoming Farmers Market on Driffield Showground, LIPS will be cooking and giving away tasters as a back-up to the demo. Anyone in the area do go along and support.
Text your local radio station
This week's Three Little Pigs tour gives the industry another opportunity to persuade radio stations to play Stand by Your Ham, which in turn should help raise the profile of British pork. This list gives the text request numbers for over 200 radio stations across the country, listed alphabetically by town. All pig industry people have to do is text their local stations, saying "Please play Stand By Your Ham by the Flying Piglets". Please forward the list to anyone who you think might want to help.
Assured British Pigs Newsletter
To save cost, the Assured British Pigs spring 2008 newsletter is not being mailed to members, but it is available to download here.
Processors will go bust — MLC chairman
Red meat supplies are tightening across Europe and unless the multiple retailers desist from keeping consumer prices artificially low as a promotional tool they will be caught out when the meat supply chain can no longer deliver the volumes required.
This was the stark warning from Meat and Livestock Commission chairman Peter Barr following the last-ever MLC Commission board meeting.
"It's good to see upwards movement in farmgate livestock prices. This is much needed, though there is still a way to go to reflect true cost of production in each sector.
"However, the red meat processing industry has been only sporadically successful in passing the farmgate price rises on to their own multiple retail customers.
"Destructive price competition and deep-cut meat promotions are not sustainable. The days of selling protein too cheaply are over.
"Processors are being squeezed and there will be unnecessary business failures as a consequence.
"There is a growing shortfall of raw material as the European livestock farming sector contracts as a result of changes to the Common Agricultural Policy and poor profitability. This shortfall will only be exacerbated as world population expands.
"The industry is potentially reaching a point at which two things will start to happen: it will be unable to meet the peaks of demand caused by retail promotions - particularly on manufacturing beef used for mince, and we will see processing businesses go to the wall.
"Ultimately consumers will have to pay more for meat and increased market returns will need to be shared equitably through the supply chain to ensure processors and producers can survive and consumers can continue to buy meat. "This can best be achieved by the whole chain working together in a more trusting and transparent way. As MLC winds up, that is one of my key messages."
The British Pig Executive is no more
The Meat and Livestock Commission ceases to exist today as a consequence of levy board reorganisation.
The over-arching organisation spending levy-payers' money is now the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, which decided last year that BPEX could no longer elect its producer members.
Each levy-paying sector now has its own sector company, along the lines of the BPEX model.
BPEX becomes BPEX Ltd. As Scotland now has separate levy arrangements, the letters B.P.E.X. no longer stand for "British Pig Executive". They don't stand for anything — but as everyone was familiar with the name, and respected it, it seemed sensible to keep it.
Here are the new logos.
31/03/08
Cost of production
The cost of producing a kilo of pigmeat in this country is expected to rise from 108.2p in 2006 to 148.1p this spring. Although there will be a decline in the last two quarters of this year, average cost of production for 2008 as a whole will be 145.3p a kilo deadweight. This is 34 percent higher than cost of production in 2006. If the average producer price were only 115p in 2008, this would imply a loss of 30p/kg, which is equivalent to £22 on every pig produced. Industry-wide, this is equivalent to an annual loss of £200m. Forecasts for cost of production in 2010 range from 120.2p to 180.9p, depending on the assumptions used, says BPEX. However, even at the low end of the range, production costs will be well above pre-2007 levels.
Red ink
"We're looking at big-time red ink," said Iowa State University economist John Lawrence, following reports there are seven percent more pigs on United States farms than a year ago.
New chief executive for NFU Scotland
James Withers has been appointed chief executive of NFU Scotland. He has been with NFUS for eight years and has progressed through a number of roles, starting as parliamentary adviser in 1999. He succeeds Andy Robertson who left in February after four years as chief executive to take up a position with East Sussex Council.
29/03/08
Pigs are bad... but we won't tell you why
Extraordinary behaviour by a government agency has provoked Manitoba Pork Council into withdrawing funding for independent third party environmental research.
Manitoba Conservation has imposed moratoriums on pig industry expansion in three areas.
“Obviously, for whatever reason that only government is privy to, they have walked right past all of the research that has been done over the years,” said Bryan Ferriss, environment committee chairman at Manitoba Pork.
Producers had been offered no explanation by government as to what research it had looked at to cause it sufficient concern to introduce a permanent moratorium, he said.
If government can be convinced to at least discuss the moratorium and the reasons for it, the pause in research funding will be reconsidered.
28/03/08
Traffic Lights report
At last something of a sellers market is starting to emerge with a combination of factors including dwindling supplies, the € hitting a new record high of 79.1p and higher retail food prices. Coupled to this the GB Euro DAPP continues to improve and now stands at 114.3p, meaning that those selling on contracts of DAPP plus 4p are now receiving over 118p. Traffic Lights commentary.
The world is reopening its doors to Britain
A campaign to recover export markets following lat year's foot and mouth outbreak is achieving a remarkable success rate. So far ten countries have agreed to re-open trade with Britain.
The countries are Algeria, Australia, Canada, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Phillippines, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand and the USA. Hong Kong had already restarted trade with Britain.
The campaign is being run by Defra, BPEX and EBLEX. Export manager Jean-Pierre Garnier, said: "We are also in advanced discussions with ten other key target markets including China, Japan, Korea, Russia and the Ukraine with visits from foreign veterinary teams planned in the near future.
"Veterinarians from overseas are genuinely impressed by the thoroughness of the United Kingdom's approach to last year's foot and mouth outbreak.
"The positive results stemming from this programme provide a very good example of effective collaboration between Defra and the meat and livestock industries."
Trade within the European Union restarted about three months ago and the latest agreements follow on from the declaration by the World Organisation for Animal health on 19 February that the United Kingdommis officially foot and mouth free.
Pig breeder back on the export trail
British-based pig breeding company UPB Ltd has sent three consignments of breeding stock totalling 450 great-grandparent and grandparent sows and boars to Ukraine. The pigs will form the basis of an in-house breeding programme being set up by one of the country’s agribusinesses. The deal, which is worth more than £300,000, will be supported by a three-year technical agreement. UPB group chairman and managing director Ian Torrie praised Defra, Northern Ireland authorities and United Kingdom industry organisations for working hard to get the necessary certificates in place to allow exports to resume.
Producers protest outside supermarket head office
Dunnes Stores in Ireland is using pigmeat as a loss leader, claimed producers when they protested outside the company's head office in Dublin. "The evidence is to be found in the Sunday newspapers every week where discounted pigmeat and half-price offers are constantly being used as headline grabbers to pull in customers," said Irish Farmers Association president Padraig Walshe. The average Irish pig producer has now built up losses of £80,000 and there is an accumulated industry loss at producer level of over £30m. As a result of the dominant position of retailers, producers now receive 18 percent of the retail price of pigmeat, with retailers and processors taking the remainder. This compares with a figure of 35 percent in the 1990s.
Government withdraws funding
The government is to withdraw financial support from Food From Britain, which was set up to promote British food at home and abroad. Unless private sector money is found to support the organisation it will close by March next year.
New migrant worker website
The Health and Safety Executive has introduced a migrant workers website offering guidance for employers and workers. The site has been developed to help migrant workers understand their rights and responsibilities. They also explain what employers need to do to manage the health and safety of migrant workers.
Nitrate Vulnerable Zones
Earlier this month, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee probed Defra's plans for Nitrate Vulnerable Zones. An uncorrected transcript of the proceedings can be found here. Nigel Penlington of BPEX (who has read it all) says some of the pig industry key points have been taken into account and references were made to Winnie's recent appearance.
27/03/08
Logo no-go
The European Commission has withdrawn its proposal for an organic logo with the word "bio" written across it. United Kingdom organic producers pointed out that "bio" doesn't signify "organic" to most consumers. There were also complaints that the logo bore a close resemblance to the logo of a well known German supermarket. A competition to design a new organic logo will be held during summer.
Wholesale prices struggle in the United States
The large increase in United States pig production in recent years is continuing to force down prices. Wholesale price — or the “pork cutout value” — had fallen to below £30/cwt by November, a price not seen since early 2004. The price recovered somewhat in January and February but has struggled since early March. Primal cuts, for instance, are down 32 percent.
Does British outdoor pork have export potential?
Do our high welfare outdoor-bred pigs, and finished pigs reared on straw, represent an opportunity to sell branded consumer products on the export market, rather than dump what we cannot use ourselves on the world commodity market?
This is the question that will be posed by Ian Campbell in his RAC Pig Fellowship report, which is due to be given at British Pig and Poultry Fair next month.
Northern Ireland sees green shoots
"The continuing fall in pig numbers throughout Europe is, at long last, starting to have a beneficial impact on producer returns. But we still have a long way to go yet," says Northern Ireland producer Robert Overend.
He told Farming Life that local pig farmers need 126 pence a kilo to break even. "But at least there is now some light at the end of the tunnel. Those producers who have remained committed to the industry need a reasonable price for their pigs for a sustained period of time, and one way of achieving this is for local consumers to put more Ulster pork and bacon products into their shopping trolleys."
Breeders cross with Waitrose
Waitrose is in trouble with English breed societies for not making clear when its English breed pork products come from crosses. Gloucester Old Spot and Berkshire breed societies have both complained to the retailer.
Commission explores mandatory country-of-origin labelling
Now would be a good time for producers to talk to their local MEPs about country-of-origin labelling, says NFU. The European Commission has appointed a rapportuer — German conservative MEP Renate Sommer — to write an opnion on a proposal for mandatory country-of-origin labelling.
26/03/08
Stand by Your Ham
What the Wall Street Journal says. (Thanks to Simon Carlton for sending the link.)
New Product Award
Pig Fair New Product Award entry forms are here.
Nine new galleries
Nine new sections have been added to the London Rally gallery. Go HERE to view them.
Pig Discussion Groups
It is useful for the industry to have a topical list of pig discussion group contacts. Please help by making sure your group is represented on the database that will appear on this site well before the next round of meetings. Complete the form HERE (or ask the appropriate person to complete it). Email addresses will be secured in the database so they cannot be robotically harvested for spam.
l NPA Trade Directory l Mechanical data l National Pig Association l Defra l BBC weather l
l Environment Agency l Food Standards Agency l Quality Meat Scotland l Scottish Executive l
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