Pigs are pilling up in German farms
The massive COVID-19 outbreak at Rheda slaughtering house owned by Tonnies is disrupting pig farming sector in Germany. More than 1,500 workers have been confirmed positive for the virus and the company's decision to halt operations in the plant is creating serious problems for pig farmers. The processing capacity of the unit is about 100,000 pigs per week (14% of the country's weekly production), which means that almost 250,000 pigs have remained in the farms since mid-June. "Each week of the plant’s closure is forcing about 100,000 pigs to remain on farms even though they are ready to be slaughtered. The pig farmers are the victims of the plant’s closure," complains the Association of German pig farmers. A date for the plant’s reopening has not yet been announced, according to Reuters.
Limited capacities of slaughtering have been reported in the last month in France and the Netherlands, adding downward pressure on average pig prices in the EU. Germany ranks as No. 1 pig producer in the EU, with a market share of 23% and a total production reported in 2019 of 5,226,000 tonnes.
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