Short supply of pigs in Australia

Infertility problems in sows has resulted in a short supply of pigs in South Australia in the lead up to Christmas. This has caused record high live-weight prices of AUD$3.20 (€2.49) per kilogramme.

According to Greg Richter from Primo Meats, Port Wakefield, hot conditions last summer was a contributing factor.

"There's been a bit of a general infertility problem that happened earlier in the year and that's just starting to come through now, it always shows up about nine months after they have the problem. It's a general thing every year but we had a lot of extra hot weather and that affects the fertility of the sows, although we are now just at the stage now where we probably expect that that would be about to turn around and we would start to get better numbers just coming into Christmas."

Ritcher also says that the high grain prices due to drought have also contributed to the increase in the cost of pigs.

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