Tight pig supply takes tension out of the air

The German pig price stabilized against expectations on Wednesday, July 19, at €1,70 per kilo. According to some, this was a '300% windfall'. The Internet exchange on Friday, July 21, confirmed that the German pig market has reached the bottom for the time being.

After 3 flat trading days, the indicator increased by €0,04 to €1,75 per kilo, with the offered lots being quickly deducted. With this, the Internet exchange corrects the usual bandwidth with the German pig price upwards. At the beginning of this week, it was still thought that the German pig price would correct the downward gap. Sow prices have also unexpectedly stabilized.

After a narrowed bandwidth with the Nord/West listing, the Internet exchange rose by €0,05 to €1,75 per kilo on Friday. 

A tour of the market shows that pigs are in demand again. In recent weeks, pigs have been pushed to stay ahead of lower prices. As a result, the heavier pigs have been removed from many stables. Sales to Germany are also flowing smoothly. In addition, the warm weather causes growth retardation and therefore less supply. Finishing pigs are especially susceptible to this in the final growth phase. 

More or less gender?
Incidentally, the story of less slaughter deserves some nuance. The slaughter figures contradict this. Last week, 285.000 pigs hung on the hooks in the Netherlands, an increase of no less than 6,7% compared to last year. The slaughter figures in the previous weeks were also in line with other years.

In Germany, 955.233 pigs were slaughtered. Compared to the same week in 2016, this is a regular deviation of 1,6%. In other words: it is mainly mood-making. It is reported from Austria that the slaughterhouses in the south of Germany are frequently knocking on the door. The local slaughterhouses subsequently suffer from this.

Meat market under pressure
It can be concluded that the tight supply is averting further price reductions. The quotations on the meat market are still in the red, with the movements for the front and middle part, bellies and hams dropping between €0,05 and €0,07 per kilo.

Sales outside Europe are also disappointing. This keeps the road to higher pig prices closed for the time being. Especially because slaughterhouses say they will slaughter less because of the holidays. Nevertheless, a German price change is probably still in the pipeline, given that the German slaughterhouses have been using a 'hauspreis' for 2 weeks that is €0,03 below the Nord/West quotation.  

DCA Benchmark Price - Pigs
After 3 reductions in a row, during which the DCA Stock Price 2.0 lost €0,16, the price for slaughtered pigs remains at €1,60 per kilo. The price of live pigs remains at €1,26 per kilo.