The newly published cost of production report from AHDB Pork shows a fall of nearly 16% in costs in 2014, taking the average figure down to £1.39/kg.
This compares with the rest of the EU at £1.34/kg deadweight, a 14% decrease in sterling terms compared to 2013.
The report also compares differences in performance between the UK and EU on several other production aspects, such as the average number of pigs weaned per sow, feed costs, carcase meat produced per sow, number of pigs finished per sow and average finishing weights.
“The areas where GB is falling behind its (EU) counterparts are those where the AHDB Pork knowledge transfer team is focusing to help businesses close the production gap,” said AHDB Pork KT lead, Steve Winfield.
“The three main areas are achieving +1 pig weaned, increase FCR by 0.1 and ALDWG by 50g/day with the overall aim of selling more pigs more efficiently.
“While we all focus on ensuring that we get as many pigs sold as we can, we should pay some attention to the fact that we are still just over a pig born below the EU average. Clearly we have a range of systems and genetics and often performance can be improved by better management practices.”
The report is available from AHDB Pork
