Reuters – The trade body for Britain’s pig industry on May 5 told Tesco, the country’s biggest supermarket group, it needs to do more to support struggling producers or risk losing its U.K. pork supply base.
In an open letter to Tesco chief executive Ken Murphy, the chairman of the National Pig Association (NPA), Rob Mutimer, said the retailer, given its scale, was uniquely positioned to act to prevent the “destruction of the U.K. pig sector.”
Mutimer said U.K. pork producers were currently facing unprecedented losses as costs of production soar due to record pig feed prices on the back of higher wheat prices caused by the war in Ukraine.
Read Also
Code cracked on nitrogen-fixing wheat?
U.S. crop breeders have created a wheat variety capable of fixing its own nitrogen rather than relying on fertilizer.
He noted it currently costs 203 pence to 216 pence per kg to produce a pig, but average pig prices remain below 170 pence a kg, meaning many producers are losing tens of thousands of pounds each week.
He said Tesco’s smaller rivals — Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons, Aldi, the Co-op, Marks & Spencer and Waitrose — were paying their suppliers more for British pork. However, he said Tesco, which has an over 27 per cent share of Britain’s grocery market, needed to do more.
