Inside: Pig Market
No slaughter hook remains empty these weeks
In the week that the German pig price fell by €0,08 per kilo, a striking number of pigs were slaughtered. What does that suggest? Subscribe to 'Pigs & Feed Pro' for the answer.
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As autumn progresses, the pig supply often increases. This also results in increasing slaughter figures this year. In Germany, 1.004.310 pigs were slaughtered last week. It is the fifth week in which more than 1 million pigs have been slaughtered. On the previous 4 occasions, the loss of a slaughter day was due to the large supply. That was not the case now.
299
thousand
Weight fraction lower
In the week in question, the payment price on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday was €1,70 per kilo. Several traders report that pork farmers are giving up their pigs early in the week these weeks. This is to prevent price reductions. It explains the high slaughter figures in Germany, with the average weight falling by 7 grams to 97,582 kilos.
In the Netherlands, slaughter took place partly on Saturday last week. That seems to be less the case this week. Compared to the previous week, 2.000 fewer pigs were slaughtered, to 299.000 head. The wide gap of 9% with last year is striking. In the same week, 274.000 pigs were slaughtered.
Wide range in France
French slaughterhouses slaughtered 377.084 pigs last week. About 3.000 pigs less than last week. That was the week with the second highest slaughter figure of 2017. More pigs were slaughtered in week 23, but this was preceded by the cancellation of a slaughter day.
For the third week in a row, more pigs were slaughtered in France than last year.