Demand for piglets is not declining yet

On the European piglet market, supply and demand are almost completely in balance. The German fattening pig farmers impose well, so that the supply runs away easily. The German piglet price (the Nord/West quotation) remains at €48 per piglet over the past week. For this week, the trend report is unchanged to plus $1.

This is striking, because the trend report in the previous weeks gave no reason to expect an increase. It is not yet certain whether the trend report will be reflected in the quotation. 

Further rise?
The German trend report is therefore not an immediate reason for further rising piglet prices in the Netherlands. Almost everyone believes that piglet prices are at the ceiling. How long the piglet market will remain stable now depends on the direction the pig price takes.

Especially now that support from Spain is starting to crumble, because exports there are becoming somewhat more difficult. On balance, piglet sales continue well, as a result of which the DCA BestPigletPrice remains at €49,50 per piglet. 

(Text continues below the chart)The Spanish demand for piglets rose explosively in Q1, sales are currently declining slightly.

Intern exchange gives impulse
The chance of lower pig prices was significantly reduced on Tuesday 3 April due to the movement made by the Internet exchange. The trendsetting quotation increased quite unexpectedly with €0,03 to €1,51 per kilo. This extends the distance to the German pig price (the VEZG quotation) to the maximum bandwidth of €0,06 per kilo. The fact that 11 of the 12 parties were in demand is a signal that the offer is easily running away. 

In the Netherlands, the supply of pigs has accumulated due to the failure of 1 slaughter day. With a few exceptions, many traders have to shuffle the offer. Nevertheless, the idea is that the supply, in 1 complete slaughter week, would not have been excessively large. Whether that thought is true will become public in the coming weeks.

There is not much more time, because in 3 weeks there will be another slaughter day (King's Day). In the meantime, it should become clear where the pig price stands. It should also become clear to what extent European exporters benefit from the Chinese pork levy from the United States (US).