Poland: Further price increases of fattening pigs await us, but will prices keep up with costs?

“In the first half of 2022, livestock purchase prices reached record levels. However, the situation of particular directions of production was diversified. While in the case of cattle or poultry, the increase in quotations was strong enough in relation to costs that it enabled historically high levels of breeding profitability to be achieved, in pigs this area remained a major challenge. At the end of the summer, when the average purchase price of pigs in Poland exceeded PLN 7.8/kg, the relation between the purchase price of livestock and industrial feed for fattening pigs returned only to the long-term average, in addition after an annual "low". In addition, after the October reduction in purchase prices, this ratio fell below the average again,” reads the specialist's analysis. The pig herd is declining - The level of prices on the pork market at current costs has not been a stimulus for the development of production and this is a general problem in the European Union. This is ...