Suffolk's pig industry shrinks massively after sector crisis

Pig consultant Peter Crichton of Bury St Edmunds said a dire two years have taken their toll on the industry - which suffered hugely after supply chain issues brought it to its knees.

It has led to farmers across Suffolk - and the UK - either leaving the industry or cutting back substantially.

The Black family, which owns Bacton Pigs, sold its last sow and is now focused on fattening only.

Peter Mortimer of Metfield in north Suffolk sold his entire herd but has returned to the industry on a contract basis - fattening pigs on behalf of another company, which then absorbs the financial risk.

George Gittus of Symonds Farm near Bury St Edmunds quit the industry completely last year after deciding the business was no longer tenable.

Many others are looking at other ways to make ends meet.

Mr Crichton estimated the industry has shrunk by anything between 20% and 28-30% - and it's not out of the woods yet.

The crisis hit when an acute shortage of butchers in abattoirs led to massive backlogs in the UK.

Pig farmers were also hit with soaring feed prices and labour costs. The double whammy meant many either left the industry, downsized or completely overhauled their business model.

While prices have gained ground - going from roughly £1.40/kg to £2/kg, the going was still tough as it was still costing producers more than it made them, he said. 

"We are still in the red and not the black," he said. "They cost a lot more to keep and feed." 

There were many different set-ups from outdoor premium operations to pig fattening units so it was difficult to come up with an average cost of production, but it could be up to £2.25 to £2.30/kg, he said.

"They are finding it very difficult. They are not all making a loss - some have large arable farms as well," he said.

These could supplement the cost of feed for their animals and balance the books more readily by subsidising the livestock side, he said.

Banks up until now had been fairly tolerant and there hadn't been a "great rush" of banks forcing pig farmers into bankruptcy, he said. "But there are a lot of people who are under an awful lot of pressure."

"The big elephant in the room is the cost of imports coming in still undercutting our market," he said.

"In Europe they can produce pig meat much cheaper than we can because they have got a lot lower welfare. We find it very hard to compete with that."

The price of feed will have to come down significantly to help the industry, he suggested. "Wheat is £17 a tonne more expensive than it was a year ago - which is not good," he said. 

However, it has dropped from the all-time highs it reached after the market panic which followed Russia's invasion of Ukraine in the spring of 2022 which sent prices spiralling.

The wheat futures market had come down from £300/t to £225/230/t - but it was still dear compared to the price they could command for pigs, he said.

The situation was even more severe for poultry farmers where the proportion feed prices accounted was even higher, he added.

Feed accounted for about 60% of costs - but as it took 10 months to rear a pig for the market, it wasn't possible to just "turn off the tap", he explained. 

Part of the reason rearing pigs in the UK is more costly is because many herds are outdoors where mortality is higher and more feed is lost. Around half are bred outdoors.

"Leaving the EU hasn't done us any favours," he said. "We have been more short of labour than the rest of the EU - we have got the energy side of it as well."

Some pig farmers will have tried to cut costs by switching to cheaper rations by including more barley over wheat but that only causes the animals to grow more slowly, he said.

The rate of shrinkage of the industry has slowed after restructuring of businesses, he said, and there were reasons to be cheerful going into 2023 but it would be tough, he said.

"It's going to be hard for all but the most efficient producers to come out with profits," he said. "Survival of the fittest - that's how I would look at the year."