Inside Pigs
Can Saturday slaughter limit damage to the market?
Things are not going well on the European pig market. The supply of finishing pigs is still ample and new developments on the market, regarding the pork export of the Van Rooi Meat slaughterhouse, do not make the prospect any brighter.
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Sales of fattening pigs remain sluggish and supply still exceeds demand. While there was hope for relief for the market, the situation is about to worsen. Van Rooi Meat is no longer allowed to export pork to China, the exact reason for this is still unknown. The negative news does not yet have any consequences for the slaughterhouse's pork price this week, which remains unchanged at €1,15 per kilo.
Saturday slaughter
The loss of exports from the slaughterhouse puts extra pressure on the market. Van Rooi Meat usually exported a lot of pork to China. While the Saturday slaughter should provide the market with some relief, it now seems to be more of an attempt to limit further damage from the pig supply after a few days of reduced capacity. Compaxo and Westfort also slaughter on Saturday, but despite this it is not possible to get through the pig plug. Vion is also reportedly going to implement Saturday slaughter at various locations, so this may offer some relief in the shorter term.
Heavier pigs in the Netherlands
Last week, around 320.000 pigs were slaughtered in the Netherlands. This is comparable to the level of the previous weeks, but the average slaughter weight has increased again. Last week there was a slight decrease in the average weight, this week the weight is increasing again and rises to 102,4 kilos.
In Germany, slaughter numbers are still unable to match the old level. In week 3, almost 810.000 pigs were slaughtered and in week 4, more than 830.000 pigs were on the slaughter hook. In recent weeks, the slaughter number has generally increased, but the level remains far behind that of previous years. The average slaughter weight decreases slightly every week. In week 2 the slaughter weight was 99,9 kilos and has now dropped to 99,4 kilos.
DCA Stock Price 2.0 stable
Prices on the European pig market are still largely stable. The DCA Exchange Price 2.0 for slaughtered pigs remains at €1,21 per kilo and the price of live pigs at €0,91 per kilo. The German VEZG quotation also remains unchanged and is still quoted at €1,19 per kilo.