Philippe Mallétroit – Director for France and Africa
Pig inventory in Europe
IFIP (French Pig Institute) recently published an article about pig inventory in Europe at the end of 2023. After a massive decapitalization these last two years, following shutdown of many pig herds until first part of 2023, the number of pigs stabilizes (-0.6% in one year) and the sows number increase slightly (+1.7 %) to reach about 10.5 million of sows in Europe.
Pig inventory in Europe in December 2023
Source : Ifip
In France the situation is a bit different. In fact, the last two years the number of pig producers has less decreased in France unlike many other European countries, so the sow herd has been more preserved. However, the French administrative burdens slow down farm acquisition and discourage young generation to becoming pig producer.
At the end of 2023, the number of sows was 852 000 in France (-2 % in 1 year). As a reminder, 25 years ago this number was around 1 200 000 sows! In France like in many other European countries the number of sows has decreased a lot in two decades. Nevertheless, less offers boost prices.
Pig prices
Since many months, pig prices in France and in Europe are good or very good compared to other countries in the world.
Pig prices overview in some countries in Europe at the end of April:
France (April,29 quotation): 2.026€ per kg carcass (81.34¢ liveweight USD/lb.), so a 120 kg (265 lbs.) liveweight pig was paid about 200 € ($214 USD) (with plus-value) to producers
Germany (April,24 quotation): 2.20€ per kg carcass
Belgium (April,25 quotation): 2.10€ per kg carcass
Currently the 25 kg (55 lbs.) piglet price is about 120€ ($128 USD) per head in Belgium!
Spain (April,25 quotation): 1.80€ per liveweight kg
Denmark (April,25 quotation): 1.61€ (12 DKK) per kg carcass
So, at the end of April, in several European countries a 120 kg liveweight finisher pig was over 200 € per head. Even if there are many production costs differences depending on countries (labor costs, feed costs…), we can say that profitability is currently quite good in France and in some European countries.
Source : IFIP, 3trois3
Categorised in: Featured News, Global Markets
This post was written by Genesus