European pig market off to a good start

Based on past results, it is known that the pig market will be confronted with a meat market that needs to get going again in the first weeks of January. To avoid this impending dip, many fatteners brought the pigs forward in December and delivered them early, resulting in a tight supply in the first weeks of this year. Despite the fact that the European meat market has taken its foot off the accelerator, Chinese demand continues to flow. This means that slaughterhouses simply want to hook pigs, which leads to rising quotations in the first week of January.

Supply is tight in relation to demand, especially in the Netherlands, Germany and Austria. For example, the Dutch pig price rose by 6 cents to 1,38 euros per kilo in the first week of January. In Germany there is a visible increase of 4 cents to 1,46 euros, while Belgians also increased by 4 cents to 1,39 euros. The Spanish and French quotations are not showing any decline, but they have also not been confronted with the December dip. The Danish quote drops by 1 cent to 1,49 euros, while the pig price in England is also falling.

The rising quotations are a setback for slaughterhouses, according to what has been heard in the corridors. Based on the meat market, price increases are not actually desirable, but given the tight supply this cannot be prevented. It is learned that slaughterhouses do not intend to go to extremes in the coming weeks and are prepared to adjust the slaughter plans to the supply. However, this does not alter the fact that the market tends to look upwards in January.