Sow company pays pig market bill

Although there was hope for positive developments, over the course of last month it became clear that the situation was less rosy than expected. Due to a declining Chinese demand for pork, pork prices had to take a significant step back. In the wake of this negative mood, piglet prices were pulled down.

Fattening pig quotation has fallen considerably
While the DCA Exchange Price 2.0 and a number of slaughterhouses recorded a modest increase of €0,01 at the beginning of June, considerable price pressure was built up from the slaughterhouses in the following weeks.

A week after this increase, the DCA Stock Exchange Price 2.0 was still quoted unchanged, but this quotation was no longer accepted by the slaughterhouses. These already adjusted the prices downwards by €0,03. Ultimately, the DCA Exchange Price 2.0 ended the month at a level of €1,46 per kilo of carcass weight, which is €0,13 lower than at the start of the month. The quotations of most Dutch slaughterhouses were even reset by €0,15.

In addition to falling pork prices, the fattening pig farmer still has to contend with: rising feed prices. Although the raw materials market now appears to be relaxing somewhat, the Compound feed price indicator still seeing an increase. This is probably a lagging effect, where animal feed manufacturers had not yet fully reflected the rising raw material prices in their prices in the first months of this year.

Sow farmer is presented with a bill
The fact that the returns of fattening pig farms remained fairly stable despite all the negativity was due to the sharp drop in piglet prices. The DCA-BestPigletPrice fell €11 to a level of €38,50. An unchanged return was therefore not possible for the propagation companies in June. Sow and piglet feed also became more expensive in June. Here, increases of between €0,45 and €0,55 were noted, which put further pressure on the returns of multipliers.