Inside: Pig Market
Significantly less pork to China
Pork exports to China almost halved in April compared to last year. The underlying asset also suffered a major blow. Exports to Japan and South Korea are positive, but do not compensate for the lost market share in China. What is the reason for this halving?
Read this article?
Become a subscriber and get instant access
Choose the subscription that suits you
Price issue
It is not the case that China is importing less, because the imported volume of pork in the first 4 months increased slightly. The EU appears to have lost a market to the US and Canada. The price gap for pigs in Europe and the US amounted to approximately €0,60 per kilo in April, in favor of American exporters.
The graph outlines the price gap in April between the German pork price and the Iowa/Minnesota quotation (USA).
South Korea and Japan
The plus from South Korea is striking. Exports increased by 33,3% to 96.890 tons. Japan also gobbled up 9,3% more pork to 138.023 tons. Red figures are written at the bottom of the line, because on balance exports fell by 4% to 2,8 million tonnes in the first 1,28 months.
The total export value is €2,64 billion. A plus of 14,1% compared to last year. The increased value in combination with less volume is mainly because European pig prices are significantly higher this year than last year.