AQW 27949/17-22
Ms Claire Sugden
Independent
East Londonderry
Tabled Date: 13/01/2022
Answered On Date: 26/01/2022
Priority Written: No
Question:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to detail the challenges affecting the pig industry; and the measures he is taking to overcome them.
Answer:
Over the last number of months, I have met on a regular basis with pig sector representatives and industry stakeholders to discuss the challenges and operational difficulties they are currently facing. I have also discussed potential solutions that could help mitigate the situation and asked them to formulate a plan that would rebalance production and processing, and bring stability to the sector. A shortage of labour across the food processing industry has caused difficulties, and is being felt heavily at farm level. Reduced processing capacity in the pig sector has resulting in a rollover of pigs each week and a backlog of pigs building up on farms. This has led to increased slaughter weights and price penalties for overweight pigs that have fallen out of specification. In addition producers have to keep pigs for longer resulting in higher feed bills. The increasing numbers of backlogged pigs on farm and associated costs has resulted in a very stressful situation for farmers and their families. I have asked officials to monitor the situation closely and industry representatives are keeping me informed regularly. Prior to Christmas, the main NI pig processing companies introduced measures to reduce the number of backlogged pigs on farms, but this was at a cost to the farmers involved. These measures seemed to address the problems at the time but there is anecdotal evidence that backlogs are building up again due to reduced throughput over the Christmas / New Year period and staff absences due to Covid-19. The average slaughter weights have also increased recently resulting in significant price penalties for overweight pigs that are outside the market specification. In late 2021 following pressure from myself and others, the UK Government announced temporary worker visas for up to 800 butchers for the pig sector. These schemes have now closed for applications and there has not been time to ascertain whether or not they made any significant difference in addressing the labour issues in the short term. Immigration Policy is a reserved matter but I will continue to engage extensively with Whitehall to help mitigate the problem. Producers have also faced escalating feed costs over recent months, coupled with the significant downward price pressures on the pigmeat market. The latter is caused by a complex mix of global issues leading to an oversupply situation that will require a period of price correction. There is a sense that market adjustment is needed and recent evidence indicates that pig prices in the EU have bottomed out so this may be an indication that world pig prices are beginning to stabilise. I do not believe that any of the challenges affecting the pig sector will be resolved easily. I have asked industry representatives to come forward with a solution as part of a longer term plan to align production and processing capacity to restore stability. I intend to meet again with stakeholders in the near future and look forward to hearing their proposals.
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