Piglet market must pass a bottleneck these weeks

These are tough weeks in the piglet trade. Due to the outbreak of African swine fever in Spain, the export demand had already taken a significant hit, and during the broken weeks around the holidays, domestic demand is also declining. Nevertheless, the DCA BestPigletPrice can remain unchanged. Since the loss of Spanish demand, it has been hard work for piglet traders to bring the sales from A to B. In the past week, the slaughter pig market offered a non-lucrative outlet to keep the market somewhat moving. Due to the holidays, significantly fewer pigs are being slaughtered in Europe since this week. Even on the days when slaughtering does take place, slaughterhouses are not struggling for supply. Only starting Monday, January 5, will the pace pick up again. For the full piglet market, this means that a tough challenge lies ahead. The slaughter pig market is disappearing, and regular trade is also declining significantly. The market is expected to face a bottleneck in the coming weeks, so it is said. However, Spain has not completely stopped importing piglets last week. In week 50, 28,211 were still sent to Southern Europe. According to exporters, this is indeed at very poor prices, which are still significantly below the bare quotation level. But even in Spain, there will be less slaughtering in the coming weeks, and there is very little placement capacity left. Despite the difficult circumstances, most traders advocate for an unchanged DCA BestPigletPrice. Thus, the quotation remains the same this week at €35.50 per pig. The piglet price has also stabilized in Spain. Click here for an explanation from DCA Market Intelligence on the quotation.