Analysis Pigs
Cloudy outlook for pig market
After a series of downgrades, the pig market has some better cards. The stabilization in Germany and sunny late summer weather will give the Dutch market some breathing space in the short term, although slaughterhouses continue to exert pressure in the background.
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It has not gone down well with many pig farmers and traders that the Dutch slaughterhouses have further reduced the pig price on their own initiative, while the German market has been holding up for a few weeks in a row. In other European countries, reductions were visible this week, just like here. With the clear reduction of 2 cents, the slaughterers in our country are probably trying to repair margins that they say are still under pressure.
Beautiful summer weather
However, meat prices are now showing a calmer picture, after significant write-downs during the holiday period, which has now come to an end. This will give the meat demand some impetus. Especially because the processing industry is in need of more raw materials. At the same time, things are not going swimmingly. However, the well-predicted summer weather could bring some momentum to the market in the coming weeks. The market seems to half anticipate this. Various traders indicate that the demand for pigs is improving, without any shortages. Slaughterhouses claim to have sufficient supply, which corresponds to the increasing slaughter figures.
Tension remains
In the background there is still some tension in the meat market. Buyers stay close to home and prefer to purchase on the spot market. They are afraid that they have too expensive contracts on the books if it turns out later this year that meat prices have fallen. In the meantime, slaughterhouses are trying to put a floor in the meat market, realizing that further price reductions are difficult to sell to the primary sector. At the same time, slaughterhouses also say that further price reductions on the pig market cannot be ruled out.
This situation is indicative of the erratic market conditions, where calm has not yet returned beneath the surface. However, no (major) price reductions are in prospect for the coming week. The DCA Stock Exchange price will nevertheless decrease by €0,01 to €2,20 per kilo for the slaughtered pigs, thus partly responding to the decreased slaughterhouse quotations. The price of live pigs also drops by €0,01 to €1,74 per kilo.
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