Inside: Pig Market
Danish Crown slaughters an extra 200.000 pigs
In Denmark, many more pigs have been slaughtered in recent weeks than expected. The Danish slaughterhouse Danish Crown even has to pull out all the stops to process the offer. In the Netherlands, the slaughter figure signals a drying up of supply.
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The turnaround in Denmark is striking; in 2017 there was still a shortage of pigs. The shortage was so acute that Danish Crown offered a surcharge above the German pork price. The slaughter figures in 2017 were below the 5-year average. There is no shortage in 2018; To date (week 1 to week 17), 5,72 million (+5%) more pigs have been slaughtered.
Overtime in Denmark
Danish Crown reports that the offer is clearly broader. The Danish slaughter group (with a market share of more than 80%) reports that there were approximately 2 more pigs in the last 200.000 months than previously estimated. Due to the holidays in May, the slaughterhouse even calls it a challenge to slaughter the supply. The solution in this case is working overtime.
The employees therefore have to work longer days. The slaughterhouse has announced that the loss of 1 slaughter day (Pentecost) will be compensated with overtime on the other days. This means that the pigs probably do not have to be moved. It is striking that Danish Crown decided last March 1 slaughter location to close. This is because there would be too little supply. The rising slaughter figures are in line with the growing numbers Danish pig herd.
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In 2018, the Danish pig supply will be much larger, as shown by the slaughter figures.
Slaughterweight Netherlands takes a step back
The slaughters in the Netherlands, Germany and France show fluctuations in May, partly due to the holidays. For example, the German slaughter figure for week 17 shows a decrease of 15% to 860.248 slaughters. This means that the figure does not deviate from the 5-year average. The average slaughter weight decreases by approximately 100 grams to 97,57 kilos.
In the Netherlands, 310.000 pigs were hanging on hooks last week; Taking into account the loss of 1 slaughter day (King's Day) in the previous week, the slaughter figure cannot necessarily be called high. Traders say that the offer can be reasonably placed these days. The average slaughter weight drops by almost half a kilo to 96,6 kilos; This means that for the first time this year the pigs weigh less than in 2017. This implies that the supply is slowly drying up.