Pig prices remain stoic towards Christmas

It remains to be seen whether the loss of slaughter days will lead to a pig plug. The fact is that there has been considerably more slaughter in recent weeks. With 318.700 pigs on the hook, last week's slaughter figure was never this high this year. Reportedly, many pigs were slaughtered this week as well. The higher slaughter figure is partly because slaughter also took place on Saturdays.

Next week, slaughterhouses will already be slowing down a gear. The slaughter rate will be completely slow between Christmas and New Year, just as there will be less slaughter in the first week of the new year. This will result in a further increase in the pig supply, although there will be no large surpluses. Supply may tighten somewhat in the coming weeks, but for now there is no cloud of possible price reductions hanging over the market. In any case, any reductions would be difficult to digest for fattening pig farmers. 

No wild meat market
In view of the Christmas holidays, meat sales have picked up in recent weeks, but sales are less game than in previous years. A setback is that ham sales are quite difficult due to the large Spanish supply, just like the front end. These heavyweights within the carcass are often drivers of sentiment. Sales of tenderloins and tenderloins did improve, as is also evident from the changes in DCA carcass parts earlier this week. Sales of by-products on the world market are and remain disappointing. Overall, it wasn't enough to fuel higher pork prices.

Uncertainty for 2024
It is difficult to estimate what the market will look like in early 2024. At the moment, a constant pig price seems most likely, although there is a piglet hanging over the market. The DCA Exchange Price remains at €2,08 per kilo for the slaughtered pigs. The price of live pigs also remains stable at €1,65 per kilo.

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