German 'schweinesteau' is getting longer and longer

Since this summer, the pig supply in Germany has been ample from week to week. The closure of slaughterhouses due to corona infections is leaving its mark. The outbreak of African swine fever is also not helping to reduce the supply, to put it disrespectfully. Now that lucrative exports to Asia have disappeared, this removes the incentive to maintain a high slaughter rate. The fact that the German Internet Exchange has been down for a few weeks now speaks volumes. 

Low slaughter figures in Germany
The German slaughter figures fell to 790.424 heads last week, which is extremely low for a full slaughter week. This represents a decrease of 8% compared to the previous week, partly due to the unity celebration last Saturday, October 3. Although the celebration did not fall on a normal working day, the decline is disappointing. When German slaughterhouses are at their peak, the 1 million slaughter mark is easily passed, but such numbers have not been achieved for some time. This is the effect of the strike corona protocols that slaughterhouses must follow. Due to the infections among slaughter staff earlier this year, there is a real fear.

Added to this Weidemark slaughterhouset, a subsidiary of Tönnies, is forced to close its doors for the next 3 weeks. This is due to a corona outbreak among the staff. All in all, a considerable loss, considering that 60.000 pigs can easily be slaughtered here on a weekly basis under normal circumstances. The number of infections is also rising rapidly at Vion in Emstek (Lower Saxony), meaning the slaughterhouse is only operating at half capacity.

Saturday slaughter not enough
It is likely that the second wave of corona will affect more slaughterhouses. Not least in the Netherlands, where the number of infections is almost the highest in all of Europe. For the time being, Dutch slaughterhouses are going full throttle and in many places slaughtering will also take place on Saturdays for the time being. This is evident from last week's slaughter figure, which rose to 327.000, the highest number since January. Despite the good intentions, this is not enough to eliminate the pig plug in Northwestern Europe. 

Tönnies has noticed in recent days that the pig supply is increasing rapidly and speaks of a dramatic situation. For the time being, pig prices do not seem to be affected by the pressure. The German VEZG quotation remained stable again last week at €1,27 per kilo. It should be noted that this is an extremely low level historically, prompted by the recent ASF outbreak. In the Netherlands, pig prices seem to be out of harm's way, but piglet prices suffer.