Price collapse in pigs reverberates in piglet market

After a painful week in which the quotations fell sharply, the pig sector is licking its wounds. The DCA BestPigletPrice is falling sharply this week. In the pig market, more calm has emerged after last week’s price drop. The piglet market is going through a difficult phase. Due to the sharply lower pig prices of last week, sales have stalled further. Pig fatteners are trying to delay placements in order to be able to 'profit' from the price drop. Sluggish sales Confidence in placing piglets was already low and is now extremely limited. These piglets will come onto the market in January as fattening pigs and that is usually not a good period. Although there are not very many surpluses, sales are proceeding very sluggishly. The German VEZG piglet price is falling this week by €11 to €30 per piglet. This is the biggest decline since spring 2022. Because the German piglet price was higher than in the Netherlands, the reduction there is larger than here. Based on the quotations, the DCA BestPigletPrice is falling this week by €6,50 to €26,50 per piglet. Net little progress After the plunge in pig prices last week, there is now more calm. In the market it is indicated that the German pig price (VEZG) will remain unchanged over the next four weeks. On balance, the market has not made much progress with the recovery in August, because apart from 5 cents this gain has evaporated again. The same applies to the piglet price, incidentally. Oversupply of meatThe oversupply of pork that characterized the market in the first phase of summer is back. A lot of pork continues to come onto the European market from Spain and Denmark, while consumption remains weak. It is to be hoped that Christmas demand will not take too long to materialize this year, because the market could use a boost.