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Edwin Poots has met on a regular basis with pig sector representatives and industry stakeholders to discuss the current challenges and operational difficulties they are facing.

The minister was responding to a written assembly questioned tabled by East Londonderry MLA, Claire Sugden, who asked him to detail the challenges affecting the pig industry, and the measures he is taking to overcome them.

Mr Poots has discussed potential solutions that help mitigate the situation and has asked for a plan to be formulated that would rebalance production and processing, and bring stability to the sector.

He outlined: “A shortage of labour across the food processing industry has caused difficulties, and is being felt heavily at farm level.

“Reduced processing capacity in the pig sector has resulted in a rollover of pigs each week and a backlog of pigs building up on farms.

“This has led to increased slaughter weights and price penalties for overweight pigs that have fallen out of specification.

“In addition, producers have to keep pigs for longer resulting in higher feed bills.”

The increasing number of backlogged pigs on farm, and the associated costs, has resulted in a “very stressful situation” for farmers and their families.

Mr Poots continued: “I have asked officials to monitor the situation closely and industry representatives are keeping me informed regularly.

“Prior to Christmas, the main NI pig processing companies introduced measures to reduce the number of backlogged pigs on farms, but this was at a cost to the farmers involved.

“These measures seemed to address the problems at the time, but there is anecdotal evidence that backlogs are building up again due to reduced throughput over the Christmas/New Year period and staff absences due to Covid-19.”

Average slaughter weights have also recently increased, which has resulted in “significant price penalties” for overweight pigs that are outside the market specification.

“In late 2021, following pressure from myself and others, the UK Government announced temporary worker visas for up to 800 butchers for the pig sector,” he stated.

“These schemes have now closed for applications and there has not been time to ascertain whether or not they made any significant difference in addressing the labour issues in the short term.

“Immigration Policy is a reserved matter, but I will continue to engage extensively with Whitehall to help mitigate the problem.”

The DAERA Minister added: “Producers have also faced escalating feed costs over recent months, coupled with the significant downward price pressures on the pigmeat market.

“The latter is caused by a complex mix of global issues leading to an oversupply situation that will require a period of price correction.

“There is a sense that market adjustment is needed, and recent evidence indicates that pig prices in the EU have bottomed out so this may be an indication that world pig prices are beginning to stabilise.

“I do not believe that any of the challenges affecting the pig sector will be resolved easily.

“I have asked industry representatives to come forward with a solution as part of a longer term plan to align production and processing capacity to restore stability.

“I intend to meet again with stakeholders in the near future and look forward to hearing their proposals,” Mr Poots concluded.

Current challenges affecting pig sector will ‘not be resolved easily’