Pig producers reckon their competitiveness is improving both against other producers in the UK and in the EU, and also believe it will get even better during the next 12 months. As far as output is concerned, however, finishing accommodation was seen as the most important limiting factor.
These were just three of the findings from the latest BPEX confidence survey that’s carried out not only among pig producers, but also processors, vets, allied industry and retail/foodservice. In fact, the survey also saw retailers record a downturn in year-on-year confidence for the first time in four years.
The survey also contained a section on BPEX services and the results show slightly fewer people were using them, though the organisation’s website continued to be popular, with Knowledge Transfer also being highly ranked.
BPEX head of knowledge transfer and communications, Andrew Knowles, said the survey provided a very important barometer of the confidence and concerns of each part of the pig meat supply chain as well as shining a light on the quality and relevance of the BPEX business and its services to customers.
“The impact of volatility of feed prices and weak market prices at the time of the survey in 2013 are not unexpected for producers, but the dip in confidence by post farm gate parts of the supply chain is a new trend,” he said.
“BPEX is also looking hard at how it can provide even greater value and relevance to its customers through the services it provides, whether this is Knowledge Transfer, how it communicates more effectively with its customers or highlighting the work of the marketing team to promote and drive demand for pork and pig meat products with customers and consumers.”
The full survey is available to download from the BPEX website.