Dear readers,
Some recent positive developments in our industry:
„Thanks to this decision, the Beyond Meat brand and its logo can no longer be used, to date, to market products included in the scope of “meat substitutes” based on vegetable proteins.”- Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a new Endemics Disease Scheme with over £72 million and £3 million in support for new and mobile abattoirs through the Farming Investment Fund.
Events calendar:
- The Sheraton Hotel in Bogotá, Colombia’s capital, hosts the fair between 20- 21 of May.
- Warsaw FOOD Expo is a significant international food fair and one of the most important industry events in Poland, held annually at the Ptak Warsaw Expo in Nadarzyn. This year it takes place on 3 days from Tuesday, 21.05.2024 to Thursday, 23.05.2024.
- șoara, Romania, organizes an international conference entitled “Pig Industry from Farm to Fork”, showing the complex process of building up a sow farm. The conference will be held on 24 of May, in the Aula Magna of the University.
Amsterdam
I had a lot of personal meetings with owners, managers involved in our industry in the last weeks. The main subject was the German reference price for the pigs.
This price is still used in many countries, but how long and in which way?
The decline of the German pig industry is an ongoing process. Main issue: continuous pressure from the political side. From the “stick and candy” handling, the candy seems to not work: interest in the federal program to promote the restructuring of animal husbandry remains limited. The Federal Ministry of Agriculture reported a total of 75 applications from pig-keeping businesses for investment funding with a funding volume of almost €50 million by May 7th. The total volume of own funds and applied for grants has so far amounted to around €100 million, while the average investment volume per construction project is around €1.3 million. This number is farm away of the targeted number of farms and way below the allocated budget. Are the farmers going out of business or are they waiting for the results of the next elections, hoping for a coalition without greens?
In the neighboring Netherlands, pig industry faced similar challenges. The elections show now a coalition with less “green” agenda, but the policies from the last years already made some effect on one of the largest pig industries from Europe: slaughter pigs per week have barely exceeded 280,000 in recent weeks and the average slaughter weight fell from 101.4 to 99.4 kg within three weeks. Vion played safe, especially after restructuring the German business and so did Van Rooi. In the meantime, Compaxo and Westfort reduced the purchasing price with 3/4 cents. In a rare development, now the Dutch slaughterhouses apply a purchasing price increase for the pigs before Germany.
Will the change in the market come from Amsterdam?
European pig and piglet prices: HW= Hot weight; L= live weight;
| COUNTRY | PIG(EUR) | TREND | PIGLET(EUR) | TREND | OBSERVATION |
| GERMANY | 2,20 HW |  | 85/25 kg | | |
| NETHERLANDS | 1,96-2,22 HW |  | 75/25 kg |  | |
| BELGIUM | 1,60 L | | 70/20 kg | | |
| DANEMARK | 1,61-1,65 HW | | 93/30 kg | | |
| FRANCE | 2,03 HW | | |||
| ITALY | 1,56 L 115kg, 1,96 L 160kg, | | 146,5/30 kg | | |
| SPAIN | 1,75 – 1,81 L | | 91-95/20kg | | |
| PORTUGAL | 2,53 HW | | |||
| AUSTRIA | 2,16 HW | | 109/31 kg | | |
| POLAND | 1,5 – 1,83 L | | 93-131/20-30 kg | | Partner info; no quotation |
| CROATIA | 2,0 – 2,1 HW | | 106-115/ 25 kg | | Partner info; no quotation |
| SERBIA | 2-2,1 L | | 120-130/ 25 kg | | Partner info; no quotation |
| CZECH R. | 2,13 – 2,17 HW | | 70-76/ 25 kg | | Partner info; no quotation |
| SLOVAKIA | 1,6 -1,67 L | | 107-113/25 kg | | Partner info; no quotation |
| HUNGARY | 1,68 – 1,79 L | | 107-113/25 kg | | Partner info; no quotation |
| ROMANIA | 1,61 – 1,73 L | | 107-117/25 kg | | Partner info; no quotation |
