Why there is no increase in German piglet price

Compared to last week, demand for Dutch piglets has dropped little. Spain may have less market share, but that demand has been taken over by Germany. There is an increasing demand for piglets in Germany. From that point of view, an increase in the German piglet price would be a logical consequence. This has already been indicated several times in the trend report by the North/West committee in recent weeks.

However, the piglet price in Germany is not showing any signs of increasing as yet. The reason for this is the unchanged pig price. On the German pig market things are going wrong now that Tönnies and Vion have been offering a 'Hauspreise' for 2 weeks. The chance that pig prices in Germany will increase in the short term is not great. That is why the German piglet price is not able to make any progress, although there are arguments for this. After all, German fattening pig farmers (from west to south) show a great demand for piglets.

Rising weeks behind us
Historically, the weeks in which the German piglet market picked up are almost behind us. In 2016, the price did rise towards the summer months, but there was a different seasonal pattern. Since a decrease is not an option now, constant to slightly increasing piglet prices in Germany must be taken into account in the coming weeks.

Historically, the chance of a significant gain is small. 

The Spanish piglet quotation (Lleida) fell by one euro last week, for the first time since August 2017, to €52 per piglet (of 20 kilos). This implies the declining demand, which exporters have been talking about for weeks. The Spanish reduction is not a reason for a reduction in the DCA BPP, because the piglets find reasonable to good deductions elsewhere.

That is why the quotation remains at €49,50 per piglet. The submissions to DCA Markets show that almost all contributors argue for unchanged advocacy. A reduction is likely in the short to medium term.

Pig price increase far away
Unchanged changes also come from the pig market; Following the DCA Stock Exchange Price 2.0, Vion's pig price also remains unchanged. The quotation remains at €1,42 per kilo. The slaughterhouse states that an increase is far away; despite the fact that everyone in the market longs for it. The price increase of the procurers does not outweigh the pressure on other components, such as hams, shoulders and bacon. 

According to Vion, there are relatively large unsold volumes of meat (particularly hams) hanging over the market; something that has not happened in a while. The by-products go to China at much lower prices.