Leading pork processor Pilgrim’s UK is planning to close two sites, at Bury St Edmunds, in Suffolk, and Coalville, in Leicestershire, and reduce production at its Ashton site, resulting in the potential loss of nearly 700 jobs. 

The existing operations at the two plants will transfer to the company’s sites at Corsham, Kings Lynn, Linton and Andover. The processor is also planning to cut production at its Ashton plant, in Manchester, to a four-day week.

The changes will affect around 290 employees at Bury St Edmunds, 350 at Coalville and 35 at Ashton, putting them at risk of redundancy.

The move has been announced after the company’s latest Annual Report and Accounts revealed it recorded an operating loss of £16 million in 2021, on the back of the challenges facing the pig sector.

“Over the last 18 months, the UK pig sector has faced the most challenging time in its history due to a combination of significant increases in production costs, falling pig prices across Europe and the UK, a decline in demand, labour shortages and the restrictions on the ability to export from some sites into key overseas markets,” the company said.

Pilgrim’s said the proposed plant closures were part of a business recovery plan put in place across its UK operations.

Rachel Baldwin, vice president of HR for Pilgrim’s UK, said: “The decision to propose the closure of our Coalville and Bury St Edmunds sites and put a number of roles at risk at Ashton has not been taken lightly, but is unfortunately essential to help our business recover and secure a sustainable future for all of our team members across the UK.

“Clearly, this announcement will have major implications, not just for our sites, but the local communities surrounding them. We will do everything we can to minimise the impact of these proposals and work closely with local authorities and agencies to support our team members through what we know will be an extremely difficult period.”

 

By Alistair Driver / Pig World

 

The English pig breeding herd has contracted by 18% in the space of a year, as the devastating impact of the pig industry crisis takes its toll, Defra’s June Agricultural survey reveals.

The figures, which are reinforced by the latest UK-wide data released by AgroVision, show the female breeding herd in England was down to below 261,000 in June, compared with 313,000 in June 2021, confirming the loss of more than 50,000 sows and gilts.

This was the lowest breeding herd figure in the past 20 years, with large decreases seen across all categories, with a 28% decline in gilt numbers, and proportionally lower drops in in-pig sows (-14%), and dry sows (-18%). ‘Other breeding pigs’, including boars, also saw a decrease in 2022, falling by 24% from 90,000 to 68,000.

The contraction of the breeding herd is not reflected in overall pig numbers in the June survey – the overall English pig herd decreased by 3% over the year to just over 4.1 million animals, with fattening pig numbers, accounting for 92% of the total, down just 1.4% to 3.8, over the 12 months. This figure is still higher than in some recent years.

This likely reflects the fact that much of the breeding herd decline has happened since the spring and was therefore not yet reflected in fattening pig numbers coming through in June.

AgroVision’s latest anonymised pig herd data does give some insight into the shortfall in production that is coming.

Representing about 60% of the national pig herd, the UK-wide AgroVision figures reinforce the trends highlighted in the Defra data for England, showing the number of sows recorded has fallen from 181,000 in July 2021 to just under 150,000 in July 2022, a 17% decline.

Unsurprisingly, the number of herds recorded continues to fall – the July 2022 figure of 191 herds compared with 240 a year earlier.

The number of services recorded in July, just short of 29,000, compared with 37,700 a year earlier, a 23% decline. The more reliable three-month rolling average records a similar decline.

 

By Alistair Driver / Pig World

The Far East has remained an important destination for UK red meat exports during the first half of the year, adding significant value to the UK red meat sector.

According to the latest data from HMRC, despite an easing of shipments due to a number of challenges on the market, China remains the largest importer of pig meat from the UK, with exports valued at nearly £88 million so far this year.

From January to June, more than half of the 108,294 tonnes of pig meat exported to non-EU countries, was imported by China, followed by the Philippines – which has become the world’s third largest importer of pork from the UK.

Shipments to the Philippines were valued at £25.9 million in the first six months of the year – up 14.8 per cent compared to the same period last year. AHDB led the first commercial mission to the Philippines in May, hosting nine UK exporters in Manilla to facilitate the all-important business to business meetings with leading importers.

And Japan is becoming a valuable export market for the UK’s red meat sector, with shipments of both pig meat and beef significantly up on last year.

After securing market access for beef in 2019, shipments have been steadily increasing, with £9.2 million worth exported in the first six months of 2022 – up from £2.8 million. Pig meat shipments have also increased, with exports worth almost £3.2 million.

AHDB Head of Exports Jonathan Eckley said: “Asian markets continue to prove a hugely valuable market for the UK’s red meat sector, despite many challenges on the global stage this year. While volumes to some countries may be quite low, these markets are vital in addressing the issue of carcase balance and utilising cuts that are less popular here in the UK but attract significant value in the Far East.

 

 

AHDB

September may have brought essential rain to build grass covers and get winter root crops growing to service demand for an anticipated bumper store lamb season.

National figures from Defra and AHDB suggest many lambs remain on farms after creep prices and dry weather slammed the breaks on lamb growth rates.

High lamb production was forecast in the AHDB summer outlook, which pegged flock expansion at 3% this year, and a prime lamb uplift of 2% in the second half of the year.

June and July slaughter figures are back 6% on the year, to 188,690, after being 14% up on the year from March to May.

August slaughter figures are still to be finalised, but liveweight throughputs are back 12.4% on the year, at 290,068 for the four weeks in August. Deadweight surveys suggest processors have had 9% fewer lambs on the year for the same period, at 169,188 head.

Store sales through markets in July and August have totalled 314,293 head, which is 14.5% back on the year. Average prices have levelled at £79, about £1.50 a head up on last year.

 

 

by Michael Priestley /  Farmers Weekly

AHDB has appointed Charlotte Evans as its first ever head of engagement for pork, a brand new role, which she will start in mid-November.

The new position incorporates responsibilities from the head of knowledge exchange role held by Jen Waters, who leaves AHDB on September 23, while also picking up additional responsibilities as a result of the sector director role being removed from AHDB’s structure.

Dr Evans, who is returning to the organisation, having previously worked at both AHDB and its predecessor BPEX, will be responsible for liaising with the pork sector chair and sector council.

She will act as a commentator, media spokesperson and platform speaker for the pork sector, and be responsible for the development of levy payer and stakeholder engagement measures for the pork knowledge exchange team.

She comes to the role with broad knowledge of the pig industry, joining from DSM Nutritional Solutions and having also worked for ForFarmers since she left AHDB. Prior to joining BPEX, where she spent eight years, she worked on a 1,000-sow pig farm.

She gained a PhD in 2009 specialising in infectious diseases in pigs, funded by BPEX.

 

By Alistair Driver / Pig world

According to a report from Rabobank, China’s pork industry has begun a new cycle which will offer considerable growth potential and opportunities for local and global players. 

The new ‘upward’ cycle began in June 2022, say Rabobank, and is expected to run for less time than its previous cycles – five of which ran from January 2003 to June 2022, lasting for roughly three to four years each.

“We expect the new cycle to have less price volatility and a slightly shorter length compared to previous cycles,” says Chenjun Pan, senior analyst of animal protein at Rabobank. “Where cost leaders were the survivors from the previous cycle, in the longer term, winners will be those who are not only cost leaders but are also able to integrate supply chains.”

Rabobank research suggests that the newest cycle will see less price volatility and more government monitoring, with the main drivers and influencers of the cycle including policies, new industry structures, sustainability demands, and consumer trends.

 

By Meghan Taylor / Pig World

Average pig production losses have topped £50 per head for the second successive quarter, as soaring costs continue to cripple an industry that has now lost more than £600 million since the autumn of 2020, according to AHDB estimates.

The latest AHDB quarterly cost of production and margin estimations for Q2 show producers lost, on average, £52/pig (58p/kg) in Q2, following losses of £58/pig in Q1 and £39/pig in Q4 2021, meaning producers have now endured seven successive quarters of negative margins.

While the average pig price rose rapidly, from 146p/kg in Q1 to 183p/kg in Q2, so did average costs, as the impact of the Ukraine war on cereal prices hit home. COP averaged 240p/kg over the quarter, up 33p on Q1, 58p on Q2 2021 and 85p on Q2 2020.

This was primarily driven by a further 27p hike in feed costs to 174p/kg, with labour, energy, fuel, interest rates and falling cull sow prices accounting for some of the other cost increases, with decreasing carcase weights also a factor.

The estimates use the latest performance figures for breeding and finishing herds for the 12 months ending June 30, 2022.

“With pig producers experiencing continued negative margins since October 2020, it is estimated (based on the total pig slaughter numbers) that the industry has lost over £600m since October 2020 to the end of June 2022,” AHDB analysts Carol Davis said.

Numerous producers have already been forced to quit, and many more have reduced their sow herds, as reflected in the June Defra Agricultural Survey, which shows a 17% year-on-year decline in the breeding herd. This is expected to result in a large shortage over the late-autumn and winter.

 

 

By Alistair Driver / Pig world

The Asian market has had a significant impact on the value of UK red meat exports in the first half of 2022. 

The latest data from HMRC shows that China remains the largest importer of UK pig meat, as export values reached nearly £88 million in the year to date. Furthermore, more than half of the 108,294 tonnes of UK pig meat exported to non-EU countries went to China, closely followed by the Philippines.

The Philippines has become the world’s third largest importer of UK pork, with the first six months of 2022 recording shipment values of £25.9m – an increase of 14.8% on figures for the same period last year.

Pig meat and beef shipments to Japan have also increased; pig meat shipments totalled nearly £3.2m, while beef exports have increased to £9.2m, from £2.8m, in the first six months of the year.

AHDB head of exports Jonathan Eckley said: “Asian markets continue to prove a hugely valuable market for the UK’s red meat sector, despite many challenges on the global stage this year. While volumes to some countries may be quite low, these markets are vital in addressing the issue of carcase balance and utilising cuts that are less popular here in the UK but attract significant value in the Far East.”

“We will continue to work with government and levy payers to open more new markets in the Far East and develop the region further, including attendance at trade shows to showcase the high-quality red meat we produce here in the UK.”

 

by Meghan Taylor / Pig World

This week the security of UK Co2 supplies to critical industries like health, nuclear and food took a a major blow.

We had the twin announcements of the imminent cessation of production at CF Industries’ last remaining UK fertiliser plant alongside the planned September shut down for maintenance of the only other significant Co2 manufacturing plant at Ensus in Teeside.

Coupled with similar closures and the scaling back of production right across Europe, this looks set to herald a supply squeeze and steep price rise that has not been seen before as industries compete for a dwindling supply of the gas. In fact, reports are already surfacing of huge price hikes from the big wholesale gas suppliers like BOC and Nippon.

So far, the line taken by Government is that it’s up to industry to sort it out amongst themselves with one spokesperson commenting: “While the government continues to examine options for the market to improve resilience over the longer term, it is essential industry acts in the interests of the public and business to do everything it can to meet demand.”

Given this week’s developments, this approach could result in more of a darwinian free-for-all than an orderly free market adjustment.

 

By The British Meat Processors Association