'No justification' for recent compound feed price rises

Pig compound feed prices have moved out of line with ingredient costs, according to the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) National Pig Committee chairman Tom Hogan.

Calling on the industry to reverse recent price increases imposed from Friday, May 1, Hogan said:

“Compound feed mills supplying feed to the pig sector implemented increases of between €8-12/t for finisher ration last week and the price of weanling and link rations have also increased by €15-20/t.”

Spot prices for cereal have not increased much above €200/t and barley is trading as low as €175, the chairman noted.

While there was a logistic issue with availability of soya bean meal in Ireland for a short period in April, it’s now trading at €330/t, which is on a par with where all compounders would have hedged their forward supply.

Hogan said pig farmers that are home milling have not experienced any increase in raw material prices, and this is also true for the compounder feed sector.

All businesses are faced with the challenges posed by Covid-19 and this can not be used as an excuse to burden pig farmers with an increase in compound feed cost, he stressed.

The pig sector has taken a big financial hit in terms of price since the global pandemic took hold, with the Irish pig price dropping from €1.96/kg to €1.74/kg today.

The pig sector is the largest consumer of Irish feed grains. Hogan said he will be contacting all compounders and making it very clear that there must be an immediate price correction.

He agreed with the call by IFA Grain Committee chairman Mark Browne to support the grain sector and include Irish grains in pig rations where possible.

Irish grains are the best source of energy that pig farmers can use to feed their pigs, and without the millers’ continued support, the tillage sector will continue to decline, Hogan concluded.