A supermarket giant has agreed to give extra support after pig producers called it out.

Tesco has announced that it will increase payments to its pork suppliers by £6.6million until August.

The announcement comes weeks after the National Pig Association (NPA) wrote an open letter to the retailer asking it to pay its farmers a fair price.

The company says that it has taken an extra 32,000 pigs, and plans to take a further extra 22,000 in the months ahead, to help clear the backlog of animals on British farms.

NPA survey data suggests there are still 100,000 pigs stuck on farms that should have gone to slaughter and farmers are losing in excess of £50 per pig due to the gap between their cost of production and the price the supply chain is paying for pork.

In the open letter, the organisation warned Tesco that the pork industry was at dire risk of collapse.

READ MORE: NPA petitions Tesco for fair price for pork

Tesco confirms that it has increased its British pork products by 30 per cent since last year, as well as boosting its marketing of British pork.

One of these initiatives is an 'I Love British' brand in its bacon range, in which a 5p per pack contribution will be passed onto farmers in the supply chain.

Tesco Fresh commercial director, Dominic Morrey said: "We fully recognise the seriousness of the situation UK pig farmers are facing and have been working closely with our suppliers to understand what more we can do to support the sector.

"On top of the increased volume of British pork we’re now offering our customers, we will be increasing payments to British pig farmers by £10million (from March) through to August this year.

"We know there is more to do, and we will be working with suppliers, farmers and the wider industry to drive more transparency and sustainability across our supply chains and support the future of the British pig industry.”