Page 8 of articles about pig price in Articles

As of today, with 2017 almost ended, the annual Spanish pig price (arithmetic, not weighted) mean is €1.26/kg LW.

Resist, resist and resist should be the motto for the first three months of 2018.

We come to the close of a year filled with happy surprises in the hog industry. 2018 will be a year of continued growth in income for most nations throughout the world. Higher incomes bring more demand for pork.

Our prices will still fall, with slight drops, but it will fall, until reaching a point in which all the pigs that can be slaughtered will be slaughtered. The bottom price cannot be very far away…

The sentence of the title is a quote from Sheryl Sandburg, COO Facebook. Contrary to all the headline grabbing scary stuff about dictators with missiles and itchy fingers, we appear to be entering a period of wide spread global economic recovery and potential prosperity that will drive big benefits to billions of people and some very special good news for pork producers worldwide.

Spanish pig prices will still fall, but the great question is: until where? The answer is not an easy one, but we tend to think that…

September will witness a series of drops in price, like a cascade. The abattoirs demand incentives to increase the slaughterings. The limit of the fall will depend on the international context.

Very probably, the Spanish price will remain above €1.40/kg liveweight until late July, supported by the weakness of the supply and helped by the weather.

In June, the Spanish price will keep on rising. The heart of the matter is how much more it will increase. If it is not possible to pass on the rise in the price of pigs to pork, all the upward trend will have to be at the expense of the abattoirs’ margin.

For good farmers, pigs continue to be very profitable, but for many not! Some are even losing money (incredible though it seems).

Continued emergence of producer owned packing is setting up a new closed market channel which may evolve its own pricing structures which take it farther and farther from the common, historical patterns.

Much in the summer will depend on the opening of the increased market capacity (as two major new plants swing open) and the industry reacts to it.

The prices rise in all Europe. In the last market session in March the German price has only grown by €0.07/kg carcass weight, and this conveys firmness and security all over the place.

Since late January until today, the price at Mercolleida has regained €0.066. We could say that the Spanish price is riding a powerful diesel engine that is propelling it upwards inexorably.

Always well-informed economic operators think that the average price in 2017 will not be lower than €1.20/kg, which would not be bad at all.

2017 is setting up to be a very surprising and interesting time in the global pork industry. Everywhere around the globe where pork production is at a comparative advantage, expansion is taking place. In the US, President-elect Trump brings a completely new model of leadership…