Dear readers,

       Let’s see some good news from the pig industry:

• Smithfield Foods has reached an agreement to buy Cargill’s Nashville, Tennessee, dry sausage plant. Smithfield will seek to retain all 160 employees at the Nashville plant.
• German private-label meats producer Abbelen, specialized in meatballs, has been purchased by the Netherlands-based Group of Butchers.
• The International Ham Institute (INTERHAM), has been created on the occasion of the twelfth World Ham Congress last week, through the union of the 2 main business associations of the sector, the National Association of Meat Industries of Spain (ANICE) and the Business Federation of Meat and Meat Industries (FECIC).
• The risk of animal disease spreading through meat is taken more and more seriously in the U.S. Nearly 60 kg. of prohibited pork products were seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers and agriculture specialists in a single enforcement action at the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge in Laredo, Texas.
• There are some job openings at Danish Crown: after the CFO-s already announced resignation, this week was the turn of the CEO.

Events calendar:

• The Seoul Food & Hotel is an international trade fair for the food and hotel industry in South Korea, held at the KINTEX Center in Goyang, on 4 days from Tuesday, 11.06.2024 to Friday, 14.06.2024.
• The „Food and Beverage (FAB) West Africa” is a leading trade fair for food and beverages in West Africa, held annually at the Landmark Centre in Lagos. It will take place on 3 days from Tuesday, 11. June to Thursday, 13. June 2024.

Fire

            The pig producers were waiting the increase of the German reference price for a long time. With several occasions(Easter, 1 of May) the expectations have not been reached, now we were hoping for the increase due to the start of the European Football Championship in Germany.

            Our hopes have not been met, and there were two reasons for this.

            First, there was an announcement from Vion. The Dutch group has already reduced its activity in Germany at the beginning of the year. Now, in a statement made(conveniently for the competitors in the pig slaughtering sector) Tuesday, the group announced its clear decision to withdraw from Germany. “Vion has decided to shift its future focus towards strengthening chains in the Benelux. Concurrently, the company is conducting a formal review of its assets in Germany  due to the strategic interest they have attracted. Vion is committed to securing the right partners for its German employees and businesses allowing growth and a sound future for these assets and their respective customers and suppliers.” As this would mean that 12% of the 44 million pigs slaughtered yearly in Germany will move to the actual competitors, this news was already enough to stop the increase of the reference price.

            Second, what we started to find out only Thursday: new African swine fever case in a fattening farm, in the region close to the Polish border. But it did affect directly the pork business: since Wednesday, pigs have not been slaughtered at the Tönnies slaughterhouse in Weißenfels (Germany, Saxony-Anhalt). 160 fattening pigs from the infected farm were delivered to the plant. According to German media reports, no traces of the ASF virus were detected in the animals, but for safety reasons the meat obtained from them will not be marketed.

            As both information were already known by the players involved in establishing next week’s reference price Wednesday afternoon, the pressure of the farmers for increasing the purchase price for the pigs was easy to combat.

            Still, there is a good chance that the football games starting Friday will increase the demand for stakes, shank and sausage, setting the pork market on fire!

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	1,97-2,22 HW		71,5/25 kg
BELGIUM	1,60 L		66/20 kg
DANEMARK	1,61-1,68 HW		90/30 kg
FRANCE	2,03 HW
ITALY	1,51/1,52 L 115kg, 1,89/1,91 L 160kg,		141,8/30 kg
SPAIN	1,75 – 1,81 L		73-91/20kg
PORTUGAL	2,53 HW
AUSTRIA	2,16 HW		109/31 kg
POLAND	1,52 – 1,84 L		94-137/20-30 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	1,7 -1,75 L		107-110/25 kg		Partner info; no quotation
HUNGARY	1,75 – 1,87 L		107-110/25 kg		Partner info; no quotation
ROMANIA	1,70 – 1,81 L		107-114/25 kg		Partner info; no quotation