Just a breather for pig market

The fact that the German pig price was able to avoid another blow this week has been positively received by the sector. Worse was anticipated. This is also positive news for the difficult piglet trade. Yet insiders are not under the illusion that the pressure has finally blown over. The foundations of the market remain rather fragile due to the uncertainty in the meat market. 

Unprecedented high Dutch inflation
With an official Dutch inflation rate of 14,5% in September, purchasing power is under serious pressure. The Dutch economy had not been confronted with such percentages for decades. The government's energy price ceilings may ease the pain, but they cannot take the sting away. Meanwhile, the supply of pigs in Northwest Europe is increasing seasonally. This has also been noted in Germany. However, the situation there is temporarily aggravated by the cancellation of a slaughter day earlier this week. The wider supply of pigs in Northwestern Europe may be further enhanced by a slowdown in growth this summer. This is not a crazy thought in view of the European pig count which was recently updated by the Eurostat statistics service and showed strong contraction figures. 

Dutch pig traders are losing the supply in a general sense. The 304.000 slaughters last week are reasonably in line with last year. Moreover, the average slaughter weight of 98,60 kilos is not excessively heavy. According to insiders, the frozen stocks are not large, but due to the high freezing costs, abattoirs do not now have the need to build up stocks.

Still shrouded in mist
European pork consumption will determine the mood in the market. Despite the persistently weak euro, exports to countries outside Europe remain at a low ebb. It does not boost the value of the carcass, as was sometimes the case in previous years. How consumption will turn out these autumn and winter months is still shrouded in mystery. For the time being, slaughterhouses seem to be at peace with the firm price corrections that have been implemented. Only Vion can expect a correction on Monday, as they mutated mildly this week. 

Abattoirs are also having to compete with the competition in Spain, which is dumping volumes on the European market now that the tourist season is over. Spain is the only price-determining country in Europe where the pig population is still growing. 

The DCA Fair Price 2.0 for pig carcasses remains at €1,87 per kilo. The price of live pigs is also stable at €1,48.

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