Pig sector crisis far from over

With the crisis in the pig industry far from over, there was a small sliver of succour for the sector in the revelation that the vast majority of the United Kingdom’s major retailers have committed to backing British pork.

National Pig Association chair, Rob Mutimer.

In response to an open letter from the National Pig Association calling for their support, all the big retailers moved to reassure producers that they were backing the industry, promising continued commitments to British pork along with support for ongoing efforts to address the labour shortage across the supply chain and to ease the huge numbers of pigs backed up on-farm..

The organisation’s chair, Rob Mutimer called on retailers to help resolve the problems within the supply sector by not turning to cheaper EU pork, particularly where it diverted essential butchery staff away from UK product as the continued backlog on farms meant welfare culling was still on the cards.

“I am therefore asking, on behalf of my members, for retailers to help us by prioritising British pork through the plants and diverting butchery staff back to British pigs so we can get the throughputs back to where they need to be and start reducing the backlog to a sustainable level,” said Mr Mutimer.

He said that despite the Government’s welcome support package the sector remained deep in crisis: “With farmers also facing an unprecedented financial crisis, the support of retailers the entire supply chain and of the British public will be critical to the survival of the British pig sector.”