Pat O’Flaherty said: “Considering the huge losses that pig farmers have been absorbing since last year, this measure is well overdue. The IFA Pigs Committee has been campaigning for the introduction of market measures since pig farmers started losing money in earnest last autumn and we were really disappointed that the EU Commission did not support calls to introduce an APS scheme for pigmeat previously”.

He said: “Although European prices have started to rise in the last few weeks, they remain 20 per cent below the five-year average and this has been a very difficult five-year period for pig farmers. Some Irish farmers have received a price increase of 4c/kg but not all and this still leaves them 15-20c/kg off the cost of production”.

“We sincerely hope that this measure will have the desired effect, but if it doesn’t put pig farmers back in the black, then export refunds should be re-examined,” Mr O’Flaherty concluded.

Also on this topic:

• EU Pigmeat Storage Scheme Welcomed
• Commission Launches Private Storage Aid for Pig Meat