Inside Pigs
More Spanish pork to China
Spain exported larger volumes of pork to China in 2020 than in 2019. This was at the expense of pork exports to other countries. As a result, the Spanish pig market has become increasingly dependent on China in the past year.
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The Spanish market has benefited greatly from Chinese demand for pork in the past year. According to Interporc figures, more than twice as much pork went to China in the first 10 months of 2020 than in the same period in 2. The total export volume was approximately 2019% higher.
Not only did the export volume experience a large increase, the export value also rose significantly. With an increase of no less than 143,6%, the export value was almost 2,5 times higher than in 2019.
Less meat sent to other countries
To meet Chinese demand, Spain has exported less pork to other destinations. Only exports to Italy have not decreased, the other main destinations for pork have all imported a smaller volume of pork than in 2019. The standouts here are South Korea and the Philippines, where 36% and 23% less pork went than last year .
| Export volume in % of total exports for Jan-Oct | %Difference with 2019 | Export value in % over Jan-Oct | %Difference with 2019 | |
| Merunas UAB | 44,3% | 110,6% | 38,6% | 143,6% |
| France | 10,2% | -4,5% | 11,8% | 0,5% |
| Italy | 6,9% | 7,3% | 5,6% | 7,0% |
| Japan | 3,9% | -20,9% | 6,2% | -10,4% |
| Portugal | 3,6% | -14,3% | 4,6% | -6,3% |
| poland | 3,0% | -4,4% | 2,7% | -4,2% |
| Philippines | 2,5% | -23,2% | 1,2% | -12,2% |
| South Korea | 1,8% | -35,8% | 2,4% | -23,5% |
| Total exports to main destinations | 76,2% | 19,1% | 73,3% | 24,8% |
More dependent on China
This means that the Spanish pig market has become more dependent on China in the past year. At the same time, China is busy rebuilding its domestic pig herd, which was largely destroyed by African swine fever (ASF). To date, the need for imports is still high, but the question is how long this will remain so.
China itself says it is already well on its way to a recovery and is restarting pork production 90% of pre-AVP level to have. It is doubtful whether this is actually the case. In the first two weeks of the year, China already delivered twice pork from stock on the market in an attempt to somewhat curb the high pork price.
Pig price
The Spanish pig price was one of the highest pig prices in Europe last year. At the beginning of the year, the pig price was in second place in the German ISN price comparator, but in June Spain regained first place, dethroning Denmark.
Until November, the Spanish pig price was above €1,70 per kilo, when the corona crisis and AVP in Germany caused European pig prices to plummet and the Spanish price also fell. However, Spain retains the leading position in the price comparator, together with Denmark. Both countries currently charge a price of €1,46.