Supply and demand do not match in the piglet market

The sales of piglets remains a matter of give and take. In a market with rapidly falling prices, finisher pig farmers are holding off, while breeding farms often want to deliver quickly. Meanwhile, the pig market continues to feel unstable. Exports of piglets are also going extremely slowly. Spain is barely buying any leftover groups anymore, so other destinations have to be found for Dutch piglets. This is also clear from the sales figures: in week 18, piglet exports to Spain fell back to 35.028 head, the lowest number since week two. Since mid-April, piglet exports have fallen sharply, partly seasonal, but also reinforced by the difficult market with falling prices. For traders, the current market presents quite a challenge in matching supply and demand. Efforts are made to do this as well as possible, but often they cannot avoid offering piglets on the free market as well. There, prices are generally between €40 and €45 per piglet, which results in a substantial loss. This can be seen as the bottom of the market. For more uniform groups, prices are higher. Based on the quotations, the DCA BestPigletPrice falls by €4 to €45,50 per piglet. Difficult pig market Meanwhile, the pig market remains a difficult story. Sales of slaughter-ready pigs are going reasonably well in a period with shorter slaughter weeks and various disruptions at slaughterhouses. However, sales of pork are going very slowly. Due to the recent price cuts, buyers have become even more reluctant to secure volumes. Slaughterhouses in Spain and Denmark continue to supply the European meat market with hams, front cuts and other parts. The cool spring weather provides little stimulus, although there are forecasts that the Pentecost weekend will be particularly fine. This may stimulate sales, although the underlying meat supply remains too large. Although no further price cuts are expected this week, traders do not rule them out for the coming weeks. The DCA Beurs Mutatieprijs remains unchanged this week. The meat mutations from DCA are sometimes still moving further down.