Eagerly-awaited pork supply chain report expected 'very soon'

The National Pig Association (NPA) has called on Defra to 'push through' with its pork supply chain review 'as a priority'

An eagerly-awaited report by Defra on its review of the pork supply chain is expected ‘very soon’, according to Farming Minister Mark Spencer.

More than 300 people have responded to the consultation on contractual relations in the UK pig supply chain, which was launched last autumn.

Mr Spencer said Defra was currently analysing the responses with a summary due to be published, which would outline the main findings and conclusions.

However, the department also initiated a review of the dairy sector in 2020, which has still not concluded.

The National Pig Association (NPA) has called on Defra to 'push through' with its pork supply chain review 'as a priority'.

NPA chief executive Lizzie Wilson said: “We are really keen for the momentum started by Victoria Prentis [former farming minister] to be maintained and the review to be driven forward.

"Pig producers see it as an opportunity to bring about lasting change and a fairer, more functional supply chain,” she said.

Mrs Wilson said the recent comments by Tesco chairman John Allan, who suggested the retailer’s suppliers were using high inflation as an excuse to raise their prices, only highlighted the need for reform of the pig supply chain.

Mr Allan told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg that Tesco buying teams were trying ‘very hard’ to challenge price hikes ‘every day of the week’, looking to ‘work out whether or not these cost increases are legitimate’.

Tesco is currently forecasting full-year operating profits of £2.5bn. Mrs Wilson highlighted pig industry losses of £750m over two years in in contrast to profits enjoyed elsewhere in the chain.

“Pig producers have been left on their knees by unprecedented costs entirely out of their control,” she said.

“If Tesco is gearing up for price cuts for pork, it needs to think again. This industry desperately needs to return to profitability so producers can recoup some of what they’ve haemorrhaged over the last two years.

"And retailers absolutely should not be reconsidering financial support at the first green shoots of recovery," Mrs Wilson said.

“Risk and reward need to be shared more equitably across the chain, not just when we’re on the verge of collapse.”

Speaking to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (EFRA) recently, Farming Minister Mark Spencer said producers in the pig and dairy sectors "felt a real squeeze."

“I expect those two consultations to produce a report very soon," he said, "There is an argument to start to be a little more interventionist in some of those sectors, if it does not appear that there is fairness there."

Highlighting the role of the Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA) in overseeing supermarket behaviour, he said it showed the benefits of a "regulatory stick to force people, if they do not act responsibly’ behind ‘a carrot of encouragement to cajole people in the right direction."