News Pigs
German pig price up despite grumbling
Today, despite grumbling from the slaughtering world, the German VEZG listing 'just' takes another step up. The tight supply ensures a persistent demand-driven market. Despite the fact that German slaughterhouses now pay better prices than Dutch slaughterers, not many extra pigs are crossing the border for the time being.
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Slaughterhouses in Germany have to make the cut to get enough pigs to meet delivery agreements. The German quotations are now considerably higher than in the Netherlands, but not many additional pigs are crossing the border as yet.
Trade is more cautious
While in 2016 up to 70.000 Dutch pigs were hanging on German slaughter hooks every week, this number then steadily declined to just under 10.000 at the end of last year. And even now that German slaughterhouses are paying better prices for some flocks, the number of animals exported does not appear to be increasing sharply for the time being. Trading parties do not want to simply put aside sales in the Netherlands and keep domestic customers satisfied, especially with the threat of African swine fever in mind.
German slaughterhouses hung slightly more pigs on the hooks last week than the week before. In addition, gender weight also increased somewhat. Possibly a sign that pig farmers have been somewhat reluctant to deliver. 748.000 pigs were slaughtered (+13.000 compared to the previous week) with an average slaughtered weight of 97,5 kilos (+0,3 kilos). Pig farmers in the Netherlands also donate pigs to a somewhat more limited extent. On the one hand, they hope for rising quotations, but on the other hand, animals are also deliberately kept in order to qualify for the TVL scheme for the first quarter. The average gender weight in the Netherlands is still over 101 kilos.
Meat trade is rising, but contracts are tight
In the meat trade, the dance around long-term contracts continues. There is a lot of concern from slaughterhouses that the rising purchasing prices are causing too much pressure. Yet for the time being they simply want to fulfill contracts, otherwise there is fear of losing customers. The DCA movements for pork parts are again in line with rising pork prices this week. Hams, ribs, shoulders and middles are again the trendsetters with pluses of about 15 cents per kilo. The whole carcass gains about 11 cents per kilo in value.
The German VEZG quotation has been increased by €0,07 per kilo of carcass weight and now stands at €1,92 per kilo of carcass weight. Tönnies and Vion Germany are following this change.