Pig producers are among the biggest winners from the World Cup, converting soaring demand for pork into high farmgate prices. But processors say they have not seen the benefits of retail price rises and are still on paper thin margins.

Tournament hosts Germany saw the biggest price rise of 14% due to the massive influx of tourists and football fans, but the British industry also saw

an uplift as EU supplies tightened.

"Pork is a convenient meat - ham and sausages are particularly popular in snack foods and sandwiches. And there's also the 'barbecue effect' at this time of year," explained MLC consumer marketing manager Chris Lamb.

"The UK market tends to operate at a premium to the EU market, due to the extra welfare specifications that we have in place. As a result, the increase in German prices had a knock-on effect, rather than a direct one, on UK prices."

Producers in the UK have seen values edge up 3% since May to hit 106.8p per kilogram, with the prospect of more to come.

"It could rise further and certainly hasn't experienced a post-World Cup dip as

yet, mainly due to the hot weather we're having,"

said Lamb.

It follows a similar pattern seen in other major sporting events, from Italy's Winter Olympics this year to Euro 2004 in Portugal, he added. "We're very much looking forward to higher pork prices when the UK hosts the 2012 Olympics."

But a respected industry source said processors were still finding business tough. "Farmgate prices are rising and so are retail prices, but we're not making any more profit. We're just trying to hold onto our margins.

"It is all about EU supplies of pigmeat, enabling pig producers to name

their price. Farmers are

taking pig prices in the short-term to make a

quick profit."

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