Falling pork price may lead to cull
FARMERS fear pigs could be destroyed unnecessarily as farm gate prices for pork go into “free-fall”.
Victorian Farmers Federation pig group president John Bourke said an oversupply of pork meant abattoirs were limiting the number of pigs they would process.
He feared the industry faced a major welfare issue as farmers without regular supply agreements had their pigs turned away from processors, and farmers with forward kills booked had their numbers capped.
“If we can’t process the pigs, we’ll have to shoot them – those are the cold, hard facts,” Mr Bourke said.
“I don’t want to see an animal fit for human consumption shot – that would be a disgrace.”
Pig farming required pigs to be processed within a specific time frame.
“You can’t put them out in a paddock and wait for the price to change ... most production systems are weekly,” Mr Bourke said
Australian Pork Limited chief executive Andrew Spencer said farmers were limited by when they could produce their pigs.
“When a pig is ready for market, it is ready for market – even an extra week could mean several kilos, creating not only a larger, but fatter, pig,” he said.
The oversupply of pigs nationally means that farm gate prices have also dropped dramatically.
“Pig prices have tanked, it’s a very big problem,” Mr Spencer said.
He said the farm gate return had dropped from $3.70/kg dressed weight at the end of last year, to $3/kg last week.
Mr Bourke said the price had been falling steadily since the second week of January, and was now close to equalling the cost of production, which he estimated at $2.80/kg.
“At one stage it dropped 20 cents (a kilogram) a week – that’s very difficult,” he said.
Laverton smallgoods manufacturer Andrew Vourvahakis said retail prices had fallen by 10–15%.
“If it comes back any more the farmers will stop breeding pigs,” Mr Vourvahakis said.
“If that happens, we can’t wait three or four years for the farms to rebuild when the prices come back.”
Mr Bourke, who has been farming since 1980, said he had never seen pig farmers under so much pressure.
“It’s not just one factor, it’s lots of things adding up and all of a sudden the price is in free-fall … it’s a hell of a lot of pressure,” he said.
Mr Bourke has received several phone calls from farmers whose “extra pigs” had been turned away from processors, including a South Australian farmer who had 450 pigs for which he could not find a processor last week.
“We’ve had times when you wouldn’t get much for them, but you could always get rid of them … (now), if you’re not a regular supplier, you’ve got no hope.”
Mr Bourke said a processor he used had introduced a quota, restricting his supply.
“We can only go up or down by 10% … it has never happened before.”
According to Mr Bourke, who represents 37 Victorian farmers owning 80% of the sows produced in the state, the problem has been compounded by three shortened working weeks.
“Easter and Anzac Day means three less days in three weeks to get the throughput through (the abattoirs),” he said.
He said Australia’s pork production for January was 14% higher than the corresponding month last year, and pork production year-on-year was 5% higher.
Mr Spencer said contributing factors included the increase in supply, a quieter-than-expected Chinese New Year and a fire in a boning room at a Queensland abattoir.
One processor, who has been in the industry since 1968 and did not wish to be named, told The Rural Weekly he believed cheap imports of belly pork were flooding the Australian market.
He quoted the current retail price at $7/kg, compared with $14/kg last year, and said he had “never seen the pork market so bad”.
But Mr Spencer said he did not believe imported pig meat was responsible for the price dive.
“We’re not seeing that imports are having an increased influence. Import competition is a way of life for us,” he said.
Mr Spencer maintained that consumer levels were healthy, with pork overtaking beef as the second-highest consumed meat, per capita, in Australia, referring to a recent Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics report that said Australians on average consumed 27.9kg of pig meat each year, compared with 27.6kg of beef (and 45.3kg of chicken).
Despite this, he said “it’s a mystery” as to why the market had dropped so dramatically.
Mr Spencer said he knew of one processor that was not taking additional pigs and feared the situation would create a welfare issue.
“If you keep more pigs on your farm, they take up more space, and you run out of space and it starts to become an animal welfare issue,” he said.
Mr Bourke said processors were doing their best under the circumstances, but “it’s a really worrying situation”.
“I can’t stand by without saying anything, any longer,” he said. “If they haven’t got a home for them, what are we going to do?”
❝I can’t stand by without saying anything, any longer.
If they haven’t got a home for them, what are we going to do?
— John Bourke