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The swine sector is the most important livestock industry in Spain. From January to October 2015 official data of the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture (MAGRAMA) follows this upward trend with an increase of 5 percent in total slaughter compared to the same period of the previous year resulting in a growth of pork production of 6 percent also from January to October 2015.
According to FAS-USDA report, Eurostat estimates the Spanish pig crop for the 3 first quarters of 2016 as 3.9 percent higher than the same period of 2015. Spanish swine sector estimates for 2016 a growth of 3.5 percent for total slaughters and of 3.9 percent of pork production. The turning point with stable or reduced production may be seen during 2017.
International and domestic promotion campaigns will continue to be very important for the industry. Interporc, the Spanish Swine and Pork Producers Association, is putting all their efforts towards promoting the quality of Spanish pork products in the Asian markets, focusing in 2016 in Japan, China and South Korea, among others but also promoting the Spanish pork domestically by TV/radio spots or nutrition conferences. New strategic markets are also Central and South America, with an increase demand on Spanish pork products supported also by the common language.
Spain is a net exporter of pork. Approximately 40 percent of the Spanish pork production is exported. Pork exports increased 17 percent until October 2015 according to GTA reaching 1.4 MMT valued almost USD 3 billion. Exports grew both to the EU and to third countries with 13.7 percent and 26.5 percent respectively. France, Italy and Portugal continue to be the main markets with China (+65 %) and Japan in the fourth and fifth positions respectively. Inside the EU - 28 occurred important growths on Spanish pork exports to Poland, Bulgaria and Romania due to an increase demand. Asia continues to be the main optio n for Spanish pork exports to third countries. Important increases in new markets occurred in 2015, such as Taiwan, New Zealand, Singapore, Vietnam or Malaysia but also in Africa.
If 2015 has been negative relating to profits and margins for swine and pork producers, Spanish swine sector expects the same trend and even worse for 2016. From January 2014 to December 2015 prices to swine producers were reduced by 25 percent while to final consumers only fell 1 percent . The Spanish swine production costs are now 1.08 - 1.10 €/kg with 0.96 €/kg of live swine prices in 2016. Mercolleida market confirms the downward trend on prices since 2013. Average live swine prices were in 2015 1.13 €/kg, 1.27 €/kg in 2014 and 1.37 €/kg in 2013. According to this, to contain the drop in prices, Spain has applied for 19,300 MT of pork or 21.5 percent of the total of the European Private Storage.
Tuesday February 16, 2016/ FAS-USDA/ United States.
http://gain.fas.usda.gov
