Stabilization visible on European pig market

The average pig price in the Netherlands remains the same last week, stand at €1,914 per kilo. However, this still puts the price €0,67 above last year's level and €0,69 above the 5-year average. Germany is well above the Netherlands, in second place in the ISN price comparison. The pig price in that country also remains stable this week, resulting in a price of €1,976. The last stable pig price is for France. Here the average price remains at €1,904 per kilo, which puts it in fifth place in the price comparison.

The Spanish pig price shows another increase this week, reaching €1,984 per kilo (+€0,004). It therefore convincingly retains the top spot in the German interest group's price comparison. The difference with last year is no less than €0,59 per kilo. An increase is not likely for Denmark and Belgium this week. Prices in these 2 countries decrease by €0,001 to €1,909 per kilo and by €0,025 to €1,840 per kilo, respectively.

Uncertainty reigns
In the broken weeks around Christmas and New Year there is usually more pressure on pig prices. This is partly because more pigs ready for slaughter are offered at this time of the year. Next week there will still be full slaughter, but in the following 2 weeks a number of slaughter days will be canceled and the demand for pigs will decrease. It is (still) uncertain how the pig price will respond to this.

All in all, this is an exceptional situation. In the past, there were years when the price had to fall sharply during that period, although there are also years in which pig prices held up relatively easily. Opinions are very divided for this year, which means that the DCA Scholarship Price 2.0 was not even able to make a quotation last Friday. It is clear that the market is under high tension.