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Farmers call for price increases
East yorkshire farmers today backed a natioanl call for higher prices on pig and poultry products.
It comes as the industry warned farmers need to be paid a higher price for pork, bacon and poultry tp combat losses caused by soaring feed prices.
The NFU has hit out at supermarkets engaged in a price a price war to push down prices. The NFU said the pig sector was losing £3.9m per week because of increased feed prices, as the cost of wheat is driven up by poor harvests and global demand.
It has called for the price paid at slaughter for a pack of pork to be raised between 7p and 17p.
It has also called for rises of between 12p and 15p for poultry or a dozen eggs.
However, farmers in the regionbelieve thoses prices should be increased further to secure theirfuture and safeguard production.
Stephen Curtis, executive chairman of pig breeding companyACMC, based in beeford, near Driffiled said: "We have seen the price of feed rise by £60 per ton.
"It now costs £170 per ton for wheat and £160 for barley. That is a big increase and a lot to pay out. At the moment we are being paid £1.10 per kilo on pig products. We would need that to go up to £1.35 to break even. If we do not get this then yet again we will see a mass of exodus of pig producers. We have had to deal with the effects of foot and mouth in 2001, the wasting disease PMWS and the latest hiccup with Foot and Mouth this year. They have blighted stocks, damaged cash flow and depressed the markets. The food industry needs to realise that there is no food chain without producers."
Last week , business advisory firm Deloitte warned meat prices would have to increase because of fiancial pressures on British farmers.
It said a combination of a hike of nearly 100 per cent in their animal feed costs and the recent scare had left the industry reeling.
NFU President Peter Kendal, said: "Soaring feed costs are a global phenomenon, as wheat is traded on the world market, so importing chicken and pork from abroad is not the answer. the era of cheap food is coming, and must come, to an end."
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