News Pigs
Pig market enters spring flow
For the second week in a row, the VEZG has raised the pig price by 5 cents. Slaughterhouses in the Netherlands are following this move. Some in the market expected a larger increase, but slaughterhouse resistance to faster increases remains considerable.
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With the increase, the German pork price has reached €1,55 per kilo, the highest level since the turn of the year. Price increases at this time of year have been more or less common in recent years. However, this time the upward trend is less rapid than perhaps hoped, given that a doubling of the increase was also anticipated this week. Slaughterhouses state that the live market is currently recovering more rapidly than meat sales allow.
While supply is clearly declining in the Netherlands, the situation in Germany is less tight. While the Dutch slaughter figure decreased by 9,2% this week, the number of slaughters in Germany increased by 0,7%. Last week, with 730.204 pigs slaughtered, no significant decline was observed.
There's no real fight to fill the slaughterhouses in Germany yet. Moreover, the market reports that pig farmers are holding on to supply in anticipation of further price increases. Slaughterhouses, in turn, indicate they can adjust their slaughtering speed if margins come under further pressure.