Britain's Tesco steps up support for struggling pig industry

LONDON (Reuters) - Tesco, Britain's biggest supermarket group, has secured an additional 6.6 million pounds ($8.1 million) of support for the country's struggling pig industry, it said on Monday.

Earlier this month, Tesco was singled out by trade body, the National Pig Association (NPA), for not doing enough for Britain's pig sector.

UK pig farmers are facing unprecedented losses as costs of production soar due to record feed prices on the back of higher wheat prices caused by the war in Ukraine.

Tesco said an "accelerated and enhanced payment plan" would see its suppliers, including London listed Cranswick, give more money to farmers, increasing payments by 6.6 million pounds until August and bringing support for Tesco farmers to a total of 10 million pounds since the start of March.

"Tesco will work with its suppliers to ensure the investment gets passed to farmers as quickly as possible," it said.

The supermarket group said it has also been supporting the industry since the turn of the year by taking more pigs to help clear the backlog of animals on British farms.

Since January, Tesco has taken an extra 32,000 pigs, and plans to take a further extra 22,000 in the months ahead.

In the longer-term, Tesco has committed to reviewing pricing on a more frequent basis, providing more flexibility for farmers when market prices change.

($1 = 0.8153 pounds)

(Reporting by James Davey; editing by David Evans)