Update from the Pork Sector Council Chair (March 2026)

Following the recent sector council meeting, Glen Nimmo shares an update on discussions around carbon dioxide stunning and a new environment roadmap for the pork sector.

In my update to levy payers at the end of last year, I noted the storm clouds that were building on the horizon of our industry after a sustained, and relatively unusual, period of trading stability.

The most immediate concern at that time was the discovery of African swine fever (ASF) in wild boar in Spain and the potential that this had to impose severe dislocation on European pork markets, and by extension into our domestic market.

While British pig prices don’t march in lockstep with EU prices, the gravitational pull of falling prices in Europe over the first quarter of this calendar year has dragged our domestic prices downward, a trend exacerbated by a general oversupply of pigs available for slaughter.

This backdrop would be challenging enough, but geopolitical events in the last few weeks have significantly ratcheted up the risk profile of the trading environment.

The war in the Middle East will have ramifications for supply chains in virtually every production and manufacturing industry. Almost certainly none of these ramifications are wholly grasped at this juncture, and the issues we don’t yet fully understand are likely to be more dangerous than those we think we do.

Ultimately, these issues will eventually work themselves out. Market equilibrium will, over time, return. As part of that process, the industry will need to adapt to changing demands in terms of regulation, customer priorities and consumer tastes.

Our most recent sector council meeting considered two important pieces of work commissioned by AHDB to help levy payers navigate these challenges: carbon dioxide stunning and the pork environment roadmap.

You will most likely be aware of the growing noise around the use of carbon dioxide in the process of stunning pigs ahead of slaughter.

This method of stunning has become an industry standard over the last 30 years, materially improving outcomes for both pigs and the producers than the electrical systems that preceded it.

In recent years, questions have been raised about the perceived aversion of pigs to carbon dioxide, without necessarily understanding what the alternatives might do to improve the situation.

Set against this, the sector council commissioned an economic impact study to look at what the impact of moving to alternative systems might involve. The systems reviewed were the existing carbon dioxide stunning, stunning using argon and high-throughput electrical stunning.

The study highlighted that stunning costs will at least double per kg of deadweight pork using alternative methods. More importantly, the report noted a vast array of uncertainties associated with moving away from carbon dioxide, and particularly with the adoption of argon stunning, which at this stage has yet to be used in a commercial setting anywhere in the world.

It is the sector council’s hope that this will be an important part of any future discussion around legislation changes and reduce the risk of British pig processors being forced to assume all the first-mover risks of adopting new systems untried anywhere else.

The other piece of work is a fantastic report on the sector’s environmental roadmap, which is the result of a hugely impressive piece of industry collaboration.

I am not going to reveal too much of the detail here as the formal launch will take place later in April after the Easter break. However, it is a compelling piece of evidence to articulate the huge progress the sector has made in its sustainability over the last 15 years.

It also sets out clear plans over the coming five years for ways to maintain that progress until the end of the decade.

I urge all levy payers to take part in the various launch and engagement events planned over the second quarter to understand the value this work will have in dealing with customers and other stakeholders.

It can feel that good news stories like this are incredibly scarce at these times. It is important to grasp them when they arrive.

Please reach out to your normal AHDB contact if you want any further information on anything discussed here.