Pig farmers smiling again as pork prices rise

CHRISTCHURCH - Confidence is returning to pig farming after several years of low prices that almost broke the back of the industry.

Many pig farmers complained of being forced to quit - squeezed out by cheap imports.

Such was the plight of pork producers that last year the Pork Industry Board was calling on the Government to cushion the blow from imported pig meats.

It wanted safeguards imposed against pork imports under the World Trade Organisation's Gatt agreement, or a countervailing duty imposed until the exporting countries stopped subsidising their farmers. The Government refused to impose such measures.

Now, for pig farmers there is light at the end of what has been a very long tunnel, as pork prices begin to rise again.

Pig producer and board director Chris Trengrove, of West Melton, near Christchurch, said a number of factors had contributed to the partial recovery.

One was that the national kill had dropped by about 50,000 pigs as some farmers quit the industry or cut stock numbers. That had balanced the oversupply caused by cheaper imports, he said.

The weaker New Zealand dollar, combined with a firming of international pork prices, had also narrowed the price difference between domestic and imported pig meat. That had helped stem the flood of cheap imported pork products, mainly from Australia, and North America, particularly Canada.

New Zealand bacon and ham was still dearer but it had always been better quality, said Mr Trengrove.

Much of the imported bacon had been previously frozen. Boneless shoulder ham had gone up by $1 a kilogram on the international market.

Another factor in the lift had been a major commitment to the New Zealand product by one of the country's biggest pork processors. It would use only New Zealand pork for its top-quality bacon and ham goods, he said.

Pork prices had also been given a lift on the coat-tails of better beef and lamb prices.

A sign of returning confidence was that farmers were starting to spend money on farm maintenance. For the past three to four years maintenance had been on the backburner.

- NZPA