Pork prices in Spain have never been so high

The price of pork in Spain is currently at its highest level, and this is not the limit, market analyst Guillem Burset said on August 10, according to the Dutch portal Nieuwe Oogst.

The cost of pork at the moment is €1.7 per kilogram of live weight. However, even such a high price may still rise. According to Burset, the prospects for the pork market are bleak.

Spain has been battling heatwaves since early July. July is always a hot month in the country, and during this period the pigs eat and grow much less than usual. But this year July is just extreme.

The average pig carcass weight in Spain is now almost 3 kg lower than the average carcass weight compared to the same period last year. Burset notes that the number of pigs slaughtered in Spain in July is at least 20% less than in January and February: "There are no pigs, and those pigs that are, do not reach the desired weight."

it is striking that the pork market is not responding normally to the shortage of pig slaughter in the European Union (EU), notes Burset and calls the European pork market apathetic. “Prices for fattening pigs in August in Spain will remain at the same high level at best,” the market analyst expects.

What happens next also depends on developments in other EU markets. Two major German slaughterhouses, Tonnies and Vion, have been paying 10 eurocents below the reference price for pigs for several weeks, Burset said. “This may be the start of a general fall in prices, but the supply of pigs in Germany is low. As a result, it is impossible to predict what will actually happen, he says. “But one thing is certain: the lethal capacity in Germany is currently too high.”

Spanish slaughterhouses are facing significant losses week after week due to rising costs. The food processing industry is struggling with negative margins because it has not responded enough to the sharp price increase that already occurred in March. In addition, the Spanish pig farmers were in the red due to increased costs. “It seems impossible that the three most important parts of the Spanish pig production are facing problems at the same time, but such is the reality,” the analyst said.

In CHINA , Burset said piglet prices have been high or very high for several months. This is usually a sign that higher slaughter pig prices are imminent, the analyst said. Burset predicts that Chinawill regain its leading role in pork imports before the end of the year.