Industry Analysis & Industry Trends
The Pig Farming industry is hamstrung. Over the past five years, the industry suffered heavily from strong growth in cheap pig meat imports, aided by the strong Australian dollar, reducing downstream domestic demand from ham and smallgoods manufacturers. Rising input costs including feed and utilities also hit profits. Falling overall domestic demand and export levels caused farmers to exit the industry and a reduction in the overall number of pigs. Over the five years through 2012-13, the number of pig farms contracted at an annualised 3.3%. As a result, the industry is highly vertically integrated, with the majority of pigs owned by businesses with integrated breeding, farming, slaughtering and processing operations... purchase to read more
Industry Report - Industry Investment Chapter
Most specialist pig farmers raise pigs in specially designed sheds that allow efficient production of a large quantity of pigs. According the Queensland Department of Primary Industry, this requires a substantial capital investment in proper housing, feeding, watering, stock, labour and other equipment over a period of about five to 11 months when farmers can recoup some of their start-up costs through their first pig sales. Generally, start-up costs for most Australian piggeries are high. For a piggery of about 100 sows, new industry players can expect to invest about $472,000 ($4,722 per sow).
A rule of thumb in the industry is that one labourer is required to raise 100 to 150 sows and their offspring. For large operations of 1,000 sows, that would equate to 10 people... purchase to read more