News Pigs
Dutch pig misses out on allowance at Westfleisch
From 2022, Westfleisch will skip the surcharge on fattening pigs that do not comply with the so-called 5D strategy. This means that Dutch fattening pigs miss the boat, just like piglets from our country that are fattened by our eastern neighbours.
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For years, Westfleisch has applied a public surcharge of €0,01 on top of the VEZG quotation. In a letter to its suppliers, the cooperative slaughterhouse stated that this surcharge will only be maintained for pigs that comply with the Tierwohl initiative (ITW) and the 5D strategy. The latter means that the pigs must have been born, raised, fattened, slaughtered and processed in Germany. Recently gave Aldi and Lidl has already announced that from 2022 it will only sell pork that is entirely of German origin.
Damner for Dutch exports
This is a downer for the Dutch export of piglets and fattening pigs. Especially since it is not unlikely that other German slaughterhouses will also come up with such measures. The Dutch pig and piglet market relies heavily on processing capacity in Germany.
Every week, between 50.000 and 100.000 piglets are exported to Germany, where they are fattened and then slaughtered. Between 5.000 and 15.000 Dutch meat pigs are exported to Germany for slaughter every week. The numbers have already shrunk significantly in recent years. Due to the above measures, it is not unlikely that this contraction will continue.