There maybe sunshine on the horizon for the pig industry after enduring a difficult year.
According to a market specialist there are signs that things are likely to improve. The industry has seen tough times recently with prices falling for the past two years.
In a period that has seen production rise and consumer demand fall, pork prices have come down by a third. Add to this the poor exchange rate and the Russian ban and it has been a ‘perfect storm’.
Now though, there may be light at the end of the tunnel. Stephen Howarth, a market specialist manager at AHDB, said there are signs that things are ‘likely to get better’.
He said the industry would be helped by the fact that the Pound had weakened against the Euro compared to last year.
On top of this he also said that that the European market had stabilised and that consumer demand was starting to rise again.
Looking to the future Stephen said that the industry needed to look at developing new products to draw in the modern consumer.
He also said that the industry needed to work alongside government to open up new export markets similar to the Chinese market in order to add more value to the carcass.
UK pig meat production remained strong in last month, with 79,800 tonnes output during the month, according to latest figures from Defra.
This equated to an increase of around 5% compared with March 2015, once changes to reporting periods are taken into account.
