The move came on Friday (January 24), two days after Cranswick announced it would no longer take part in the price reporting service, which possibly removed 30% of the pigs from the sample.
Cranswick’s decision led industry leaders to speculate the company was trying to “destroy” DAPP, as the decision would cause other major pork businesses to follow.
National Pig Association (NPA) acting general manager Lizzie Press told FoodManufacture.co.uk last week: “Cranswick have pulled out of the DAPP knowing full well this will probably cause a domino effect as processors are only prepared to report price information if they are all committed.”
Disarray
She said an industry without DAPP would mean complete “disarray” with regards to price and could give processors the opportunity to renegotiate contracts.
However, the British pig levy body BPEX said it was confident the remaining sample would be representative, although Karro’s withdrawal will obviously further reduce the sample size.
BPEX is obligated by the UK government to collect and report weekly pig price information for the European Commission, which is delivered in the form of DAPP.
The list of voluntary DAPP contributors now consists of HG Blake, Cheale Meats, FA Gill, Tulip, Dunbia, Woodhead Bros and Lamberts.