While the Dutch slaughterhouses have no shortage of pigs, the slaughterhouses in Germany are not full. Nevertheless, there is pressure on price formation.
German slaughterhouses jointly processed 15 pigs last week (week 983.417). This is a relatively low number, considering that there was one day less slaughter in the previous 2 weeks. In other years, more than a million pigs were hanging on the hooks in the first full week after Good Friday and Easter. Now that this limit has not been removed in 2018, this is a signal that the pig supply cannot be described as ample.
The average slaughter weight in Germany is stable at 98,23 kilos. Compared to a year ago, the slaughter pigs in Germany weigh 0,77 kilos more. Although the pig supply is not necessarily extensive, there is pressure pricing. This is mainly a result of deteriorated sales opportunities on the world market.
Many massacres in the Netherlands
In the Netherlands, under pressure from a large supply of pigs, slaughter is taking place at full slaughter capacity. In the past week, 318.000 pigs were hanging on the hooks. In other years, the slaughter figure in this period of the year was below the 300.000 slaughter mark. Since the second half of 2017 structural more gender in the Netherlands. It is therefore unlikely that the slaughter figures (apart from broken weeks) will fall below the limit. Especially because the pig herd is growing.
The pigs slaughtered in week 15 weighed on average 0,60 kilos heavier than the week before. This means that the average slaughter weight is more than 2 kilos above the 5-year average.
Record offering in US
In the United States, 10,7 million pigs were slaughtered in March. While this number is a record, it is only slightly higher than the same month in 2017. The increasing number of slaughters in the US is in line with the growing pig herd across the pond.So far, considerably more pigs have been slaughtered compared to 2017.