Pork cost of production in Q1 2022

The latest AHDB quarterly cost of production and margin estimations have now been published. These use the latest performance figures for breeding and finishing herds for the 12 months ending 31 March 2022. They include price updates for 2022 Q1 for feed, fuel, energy, and changes in interest rates. It shows that the full economic cost of production for 2022 Q1 has risen to an estimated average of 207p/kg deadweight, with pig margins per slaughter pig estimated at -£58 per head.

With feed, energy and fuel costs increasing throughout the period, this average masks that by the end of March the estimated cost of production had reached 216p/kg deadweight, as reported in a recent AHDB article.

With feed prices continuing to rise, and no indication that they will be dropping anytime soon, the full economic cost of production is estimated to be 230p/kg deadweight in April, assuming the same performance as for the 12 months ending 31 March 2022.

With pig producers experiencing negative margins since October 2020, it is estimated (based on the total pig slaughter numbers to April 2022) that the industry have lost over £500m since October 2020.

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