The price has been dropping steadily from a record high in November 2013, and at present for every pig being sold a farmer is losing £10.

The decline in price has been caused by a number of factors, including oversupply in Europe due to the Russian import ban.

Many British retailers have committed to stocking 100 per cent fresh pork, and with the new processing plant in Brechin now in operation, it is hoped this decline will be halted.

The focus is now on marketing Specially Selected Pork, and NFU Scotland will be meeting with stakeholders in due course to discuss this further. Quality Meat Scotland recently launched a marketing campaign, similar to its successful Scotch Beef and Scotch Lamb campaigns, which will complement this work.

The Union will also be meeting with retailers to discuss the positioning and publicity of Specially Selected Pork as well as focussing its efforts on a ‘shelfwatch’ initiative to monitor this.

NFU Scotland’s Pigs Committee Chairman Kevin Gilbert commented: “Pig prices have been declining for some time and are currently at their lowest level in around eight years. Looking simply at the past year prices are down 20-25p/kg dwt which represents a decrease of about 18 per cent. Production simply cannot be sustainable at these prices.

“The main reason for the price drop is an excess of pigmeat on the European market and whilst the recent use of Private Storage Aid in Europe may have helped European prices improve slightly there is little evidence of it helping UK and Scottish pig prices yet.

“The price of pork on the shelf has also fallen but not by as much as the producer price, with the share of the retail price returned to producers falling five per cent since November. It is clear that a lot of cheaper European meat is being substituted for UK product, especially in processed meat products, retailers could really help UK producers at this time by showing greater loyalty to Scottish and UK product.”

“This should be a time of positivity for the Scottish pig industry as the new abattoir at Brechin is set to double its processing capacity, allowing more Scottish pigs to be processed in Scotland, which will reduce haulage costs and allow wider stocking of Scottish labelled Specially Selected Pork across the major supermarkets within Scotland.”