Analysis Pigs
Oversupply on slaughter line turns into shortage
The Dutch pig market was still dominated by a large oversupply a few weeks ago. That is no longer the case at the beginning of March. Slaughterhouses are eager to have the pigs and are prepared to open their wallets for it.
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As we saw this week already wrote the battle for slaughter pigs has broken out in the Netherlands. While in Germany the prices continue unchanged, this is different in our country. What is striking is that slaughterhouses try to outdo each other by increasing the quotation just a little bit more than their competitors do. And if that does not work, the weekly surcharge is increased afterwards, as according to traders at Vion happened.
Decline in slaughter figures
The reason for this is easy to guess. There are not too many pigs in the Netherlands. With 290.203 pigs, the slaughter figure dropped last week to the lowest level since 2017 for week 9. There was also a big bite out of the average slaughter weight, which dropped by almost 1 kilo to 101,30 per kilo, which is also below the long-term average. A further drop in the coming weeks is likely, given the good demand for pigs. The slaughter figure is also likely to drop further, partly due to the impact of the termination schemes.
In Germany, the slaughter figure has risen to over 700.000 pigs last week. This confirms the better meat sales, because German slaughterhouses are still not keen on slaughtering for the cold store and adjust their slaughter plans to the daily market.
Higher meat prices
The improved meat market is also reflected in the flesh mutations of DCA. This shows that the hams and shoulders increased in value by 5 cents per kilo this week. Both components are heavyweights and thus increase the raw material value of the carcass by more than 3,5 cents. In other words: Dutch slaughterhouses can also open their wallets without it automatically being at the expense of the margin. This also leads to higher pig prices in Belgium and Spain.
DCA Benchmark Price - Pigs
The seemingly automatically increasing pig prices logically stimulates the opportunism of traders, but it is also noticeable that they do not want to go over the top. Based on the data, the DCA Exchange Price 2.0 for slaughtered pigs increases by €0,03 to €1,82 per kilo. The price of live pigs increases by €0,02 to €1,42 per kilo.
Click here for an explanation from DCA Market Intelligence on the listing.