The annual cost of production report, just published by the British Pig Executive (BPEX) is a bit like the curate's egg - good in parts.

On the plus side, the report, which looks at 2004, showed pre-weaning mortality had improved as had carcase meat production per sow and daily liveweight gain of rearers was excellent.

But British pig producers continued to show comparatively poor performance in a number of key areas - though some of these were starting to show an improvement in the last half of 2004 and early 2005.

BPEX Director of Pig Industry Development Mark Wilson believes there is a way out of this and cites the example of France.

He said: "Over the last four years, France has moved from 6th place in the cost of production league table to being the country with the lowest cost.

"They have gone from 19.5 to 22.1 pigs per sow per year which equates to a rise from 1,687 kg of pig meat a year to 1,940 kg!"

He said France suffered from PMWS three years before Great Britain and through improved management practice together with patience the French have seen improvements in herd performance.

"If we continue to implement best practice we can expect to see similar improvements in the GB breeding herd."

Mark said BPEX was taking the lead in turning our industry around with a new research focus, rapid development of research into practice, investment in knowledge transfer team, practical demonstration projects in buildings and the development of a training strategy.

His key message on the back of the report is: "Get involved, share best practice; use the information that's out there, get your staff trained and be prepared to make changes."

The key points in the report, which compares the relative competitiveness of British pig production with other EU countries, are:

• Britain had the highest average cost of pig production, excluding Italian Parma ham production, at 111.4p per kg.

• However total costs include a significant amount for depreciation. If this item is excluded, the cash costs of production are 96.3p per kg.

• The average cost of production in all the participating EU countries was 100.8p per kg in 2004. This was up from 99.4p per kg in 2003 and 93.8p per kg in 2000.

• The increases in feed prices in the last few months of 2003 were reflected in higher feed costs in the 2004 figures.

• Feed prices increased most sharply in Spain and Great Britain. Feed prices have now fallen from the high levels of early 2004, and this will be reflected in the 2005 results.

• Great Britain continued to have poor physical performance results in a number of key areas: litters per sow per year, mortality and daily liveweight gain of finishers. There was little annual improvement indicated by the 2004 results and performance was significantly poorer than in 2000, due largely to PMWS.

The report, free to levy-payers in England and Wales and £150 to others, is available by contacting Marian Robertson at BPEX on 01908 844368 or by email, bpex@mlc.org.

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