Analysis pig slaughter
Holidays affect slaughter figures in April
April is a month with several holidays. The influence of these days is reflected in the slaughter figures, which are anything but stable. For the time being, the corona does not seem to have a clear influence on the slaughter figures, given the relationship with other years.
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The month of April contains 4 public holidays, Good Friday, Easter Monday and Easter Monday and King's Day. While Easter is normally a day off, this is not obvious for Good Friday (April 1) and King's Day (April 2). Both days must be included in the collective labor agreement as a day off. In the collective labor agreement for the meat sector, they are both mentioned as days off, but work must continue as normal in certain circumstances. However, in 10, King's Day is not separately reflected in the figures because it fell in the same week as Easter.
Number of slaughters
Compared to previous years, 2020 is on par in terms of the number of slaughters. Despite the fact that the sky-high price at the beginning of this year has fallen sharply, the pigs continue to be delivered in large numbers. Overall, the 2020 line moves above the 5-year average.
April consists of 5 weeks this year, so the slaughter figures from week 14 to week 18 are taken into account. This shows that Easter has an effect on week 16. While 15 pigs were slaughtered in week 312.000, there were in week 16 'only' 252.000. Week 17 then increases again to 315.000 slaughters, after which the influence of King's Day in week 18 reduces the number of animals to 258.000. The 2020 figures in the week of Easter are not inferior to the figures from 2018 (261.000) and 2019 (257.000).
Weight
The record weight of 101,5 kilos from week 3 of 2020 is now out of sight, meaning the weights are returning to 'normal' levels. Even though the pigs are weighing less, they are still heavier than the pigs last year and the 5-year average. The 5-year average does not exceed 97,5 kilos in April. Also in 2019, the pigs were not that heavy in the same weeks
The heaviest pigs in the same weeks were delivered in week 18 last year. These pigs weighed 98,8 kilos, the same weight as the average pigs had in week 18 this year. In the other weeks of 2019 the 99 kilos was not reached, while this year the pigs still weighed 14 kilos in weeks 16 and 100.
Percentage of meat
The percentage of meat has remained relatively stable in recent weeks and is therefore virtually in line with last year's development. The pigs have a maximum of 59% meat and at least 58,8% meat. This means that the percentages score worse than the 5-year average, where they do not fall below 59%.