Pig price breaks under headwinds in the meat market

Where it was thought that the pig price could take a step up after Easter, the opposite movement is visible in the market. It can be concluded that pig prices quickly break when faced with headwinds from the meat market. Many traders, admittedly, did not want to bet on it, but at the beginning of the week it was still thought that pig prices might hold steady. However, the German pig price (VEZG) appears unable to withstand the increasing pressure from the meat market and falls by as much as €0.10 to €1.60 per kilo. Although Dutch slaughterhouses are not full, they are following the downward direction. Vion and Van Rooi are also lowering by €0.10 to €1.31 and €1.33 per kilo respectively. Westfort is taking it a little more slowly with a drop of €0.08 and moves to €1.39. The meat market is sluggish The reduction does not come entirely out of the blue. Last week and this week as well, meat prices already showed downward movements, with declines for, among others, the hams. This is a heavyweight within the carcass and therefore decisive for the price. Yet the decline in the pig price is not in line with the movement in the meat market. Apart from the hams, after all, most parts moved unchanged. Nevertheless, slaughterhouses indicate that meat sales are not going well and that large volumes must be frozen. Due to high energy prices, this is an expensive matter and it is also fuelling price pressure. Space in cold stores is scarce because of high stocks of fries and butter. Cancelled slaughter days Combine this with a series of cancelled slaughter days (in the past and also coming weeks) and the ingredients for a price reduction are complete. This does not alter the fact that the reduction is hard to swallow for the primary sector. The pressure on piglet prices will probably become even greater in the coming weeks because of the reduction in the pig price than it already was.