Inside Pigs
Yield barometer piglets by crisis level
The pig market has been doom and gloom since June. The yield barometers of both piglets and fattening pigs fell further over the past month. Pain is particularly experienced in sow farming.
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There has been a complete loss of confidence among fattening pig farmers, causing piglet prices to rise sharply in August. The DCA Piglet Index therefore fell considerably and reached a level of 26,2 points at the beginning of September (100 points is a multi-year average). Although it is not yet a record low, the index is now coming close to this. The return on pig breeding is well below the long-term average the question remains whether the poison cup is empty yet.
Piglet market remains difficult
Since it became increasingly clear in June that a revival of the fattening pig market is not possible for the time being, the trade in piglets has been difficult. Piglets also became cheaper in August. The DCA BestPigletPrice fell from €30 to €24, a minus of 20%. Mainly because of this price drop, the DCA Piglet Index had to give up more than 20 points, falling from 49,8 at the beginning of August to 26,2 points at the beginning of September. Only last November was the index at an even lower level for several weeks.
Although feed prices fell very slightly, they are historically at a very high level. The high feed costs therefore continue to have an unchanged impact on the returns of sow farms.
DCA Fattening pigs Index
The sharp drop in piglet prices means that returns in fattening pig farming are declining less rapidly. Despite the fact that the DCA Exchange Price 2.0 for fattening pigs fell by €32 in the period from week 36 to week 0,10 to a level of €1,24. The index fell from 96,9 points at the beginning of August to 86,0 points at the beginning of September. The return in fattening pig farming is now also clearly below the multi-year average.
Compound feed for fattening pigs also fell slightly in price in August. However, this decline does not really make any difference.
Manure disposal
Manure discharge to arable farming only really started during the course of the month. In the end, prices rose only slightly. Disposal of fattening pig slurry in the south became on average €0,35 more expensive per tonne and cost €22,17 at the beginning of September. In the middle, the price increase was limited to €0,17 per tonne and sales of fattening pig slurry cost an average of €19,50 at the beginning of September.