Is the piglet the child of the bill?

The piglet price has been under pressure for weeks, even though the summer holidays are about to start. After a period of broken slaughter weeks due to holidays, the pig market seemed to be preparing for a summer rally. After all, the supply would not be excessively large and with various sporting events around the corner, there seemed to be the right cocktail for more demand for meat.

Nothing has proven further from the truth. The number of pigs did indeed not appear to be excessively large and due to the beautiful summer weather (which has lasted for a number of weeks) growth also turned out to be disappointing. This seemed to pave the way to higher pig prices.

Disappointing sales
However, what was not anticipated was the disappointing meat sales. Meat sellers have been indicating for weeks that sales are declining and that prices are under pressure. This is reinforced by the trade barriers that China and the United States (US) are putting up, causing other markets to be bombarded with supplies of cheap meat.

It forces Dutch slaughterers to slow down the pace. The low supply of pigs allowed pig prices to stabilize. That was the only positive thing that could be observed in the market. The fatteners had to calculate with expensive piglets and were not calculated for a fattening round.

To make matters worse, manure sales also turned out to cost much more money than had been anticipated. The collection contributions are sky-high for this period of the year and there seems to be little prospect of any improvement. Feed prices have also found their way up in recent months.

Purchase of piglets
For the fatteners, purchasing piglets seems to be the only option to gain a better grip on the total costs of a fattening round. The pressure on piglet prices is becoming palpable, especially on the open market. Wherever the price level of piglets goes, the summer period is not the easiest period. And that period will also have to face some headwind due to the above-mentioned matters.

The quotation of the DCA BestPigletPrice for week 28 amounts to €33, a change of minus €2. Prices are also under pressure in Germany. In 3 weeks, €6 has been surrendered and the trend report for this week (week 28) is also downwards (-€1).

Pig price Vion
The Vion fattening pig quotation for week 28 is €1,45 (unchanged). Vion reports that the sales markets for pork remain weak. Compared to last week, the front is unchanged, but the selling prices of the ham and the product are under pressure.

Vion further reports that bacon sales are poor and that they are under pressure in both price and volume terms. The offer is becoming slightly wider compared to the last few weeks and the weights are also starting to pick up. All in all, a weak market where the pig price once again, albeit with great difficulty, remains unchanged.