Spain benefits from shrinking Dutch pig population

"We can gain market share by taking advantage of the gap that will reportedly arise if Dutch farms disappear," he told the Spanish newspaper Heraldo. According to Quílez, Rabobank assumes that 3.500 of the 4.300 pig farms in the Netherlands will disappear in the long term. This is due to a lack of business successors and the emission reduction prescribed by the Dutch government.

Piglet import from the Netherlands
Rabobank thinks that at least 75% of the number of fattening pig farms will disappear. The shrinkage in sow farming will be much smaller. But in order to grow in the number of fattening pigs, the sector in Spain must find a solution to the dependence on Dutch imports of piglets: approximately 1 million per year. 

Sow farming in Spain is not growing, which has increased dependence on piglet imports. Quilez is counting on Germany and Denmark to be able to absorb part of the Dutch decline in piglet exports. He also expects that the Spanish pig sector will be able to breed more piglets itself.

Slaughterhouse investments
Given the growth of the Spanish pig herd (and the expected growth as a result of the shrinkage in the Netherlands), various slaughterhouses are investing in their capacity. An example of this is Litera Meat, from the Italian group Pini in the city of Binéfar in the Aragon region. When the slaughterhouse is fully operational, it plans to slaughter 30.000 pigs per day (about 7 million per year).

The investments increase the regional slaughter capacity in Aragon, Spain's second largest pig region after Catalonia, to 20,6 million. These investments will reportedly also lead to the construction of new pig farms. In terms of size, the Spanish pig sector has already surpassed Germany in recent years, becoming the largest pig country in Europe.

Integration model successful
The success of the Spanish pig sector is due to the vertical integration model. Changes can be made faster in this chain than in the Dutch pig chain. Rabobank's figures also show that the added value in the Spanish chain is 50% higher than here. The Spanish consumer is willing to pay more for meat. The most added value is at the end of the chain. The cost price in Spanish pig farming is also €0,20 per kilo lower than in Dutch pig farming.

The main reasons for this are lower housing, labor and environmental costs. This despite the long transport distances and the tighter feed supply. Previously, the Netherlands was able to achieve a very low cost price for this very reason, compared to international competition. While the Spanish sector has experienced significant growth and the average Spanish pig farmer has made modest profits in recent years, returns in the Netherlands have been negative for a long time.

Also challenges
The Spanish pig sector also faces a few major challenges: the high use of antibiotics, the increasing environmental pressure and the partly outdated fattening pig stables. Antibiotic use in Spain is considerably higher than in the Netherlands, and medicines are also mixed into compound feed. Spain is also lagging behind in the reduction of unwanted additives to animal feed, such as zinc. European rules that apply in the Netherlands are also being implemented in Spain with a several years delay.