Pig processor delivers contract shock

Pig suppliers to Tulip UK face possible price cuts in future as a result of a decision by the company to renegotiate all producer contracts.

The aim, says Tulip, is to better reflect market prices and enable the company to remain a competitive buyer.

Buying 50,000 pigs a week and a major force in the DAPP, Tulip says the decision is partly the result of its recent purchase of Geo Adams.

But the company's Andrew Saunders told the NPA today that the main reason was because the company wanted to streamline its existing range of contracts and because most cost-of-production contracts are linked strongly to DAPP and have, as a result, become "self-feeding".