British pig farmers have said they will spend £500,000 next month in a "last ditch effort" to publicise the need for a major price rise on pork.

BPEX launched the campaign this week by publishing an open letter in the major broadsheets asking for more money. The letter claimed pig farmers were losing more than £20 on each pig they sold, because soaring feed prices have driven costs up.

"We need the supermarkets to pay an extra 34p per kg to help preserve British pig farming," the letter said. "If this price rise was passed on to shoppers, it would only mean between 7p and 17p on the pack price of typical pork products. We think it is a small price worth paying and we're asking British consumers to back us."

National Pig Association chairman Stewart Houston admitted it was a desperate gambit, but said it was necessary for the pig industry to retain its critical mass.

"We're an industry that doesn't usually turn to others for help," he said. "But if we don't get an increase to British farmers to protect this vulnerable supply base, there will soon be a shortage of pork."

Chicken producers were also being pushed heavily into the red by the high feed prices, the NFU said. The average chicken farmer is losing £40,000 per year at current prices, and losses are expected to double by 2008 because of feed costs.

As The Grocer went to press, there were signs that Tesco was preparing to raise the price it pays for pork and chicken by 10%. Bourns said the retailer's trading director, Richard Brasher, had told the NFU a rise was in the pipeline. Marks & Spencer was also said to be mulling a move.

Asda, which ran a £2 chicken promotion recently, refused to comment. But the British Retail Consortium said farmers should mitigate rising feed costs with greater efficiency.

However, NFU president Peter Kendall said the statement was crass and unhelpful. "Supermarkets emphatically haven't realised the era of cheap food is over," he told The Grocer. "Society as a whole has to pay more."

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