Spanish pork prices are back to 2015 levels
Pork price in Spain will continue with a similar trend to 2015 fall prices, except that this year Spain there are lighter pigs going to the market. "We are currently with a market price of € 1,046 / kg live weight with an average weight of 111 kg", signals Mercedes Vega, Genesus General Director for Spain, Italy & Portugal.
"At this time the packers have stopped losing money and they have started to make decent profits, while the producers -if we take as a reference the cost of production from the first two quarters of 2018, they are losing between 1.05 or 1.1 € / kg", estimates Vega in the report.
"In addition to this situation, everybody agrees that this year there are lighter hogs compared with last year -110.98 kg compared to 113.57 kg live weight in 2017- but also there is more supply and also more killing capacity, so the packers will be assuming that by increasing their purchase volume. The uncertainty of the market with the future is still very confusing due to the ASF situation in the EU", she added.
Besides that, pork consumption in Spain is decreasing due to the repercussion of the deep financial crisis that began in 2008, the pressure exerted by groups of vegetarians, vegans and animal rights extremists, the evolution of the population structure in Spain with a growing increase on aged people, and finally a change in the average family structure in Spain with a growing presence of units of one or two people and the decrease of family lunches and dinners in those families that have younger children.
Spain's meat consumption estimates for this year are the following: pork (46 kg/year), beef (12 kg/year), avian meat (30 kg/year), sheep and goat (4 kg/year), rabbit (1.5 kg/year), other (2 kg/year).
Farmers oppose the agreement between the European Union the Mercosur bloc that includes Brazil, A...
"The flock figure of around 8.7 million recorded for the last two years is the lowest level since...
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) launched its 2024 Statisti...