Dear readers,
Some positive news for the beginning:
- As I prefaced it last week, an important development occurred in Spain: the Vall Companys Group and the Mexican company Sigma have signed an agreement whereby the latter will restructure its fresh meat operations in Spain.Vall Companys Group will manage and control 75% of the slaughtering and butchering activities carried out at Carnes Selectas , Sigma’s meat processing plant in Burgos. Sigma Europe will retain 100% of its ready-to-sell fresh meat business, which supplies retail customers and will operate under its subsidiary Campofrío Frescos .The pig farm of Grupo Vall Companys, Agroalimentaria Chico, will be integrated into the current joint venture, Desarrollos Porcinos Castilla y León , Deporcyl, managed by Grupo Vall Companys, which owns 46% of it and Sigma Europe another 42%.
- The Italian region of Calabria is again African Swine Fever free. The authorities officially recognized the importance of the contribution of the hunters in managing the wild boar population. A lesson to be learned!
- In 2023, new space requirements for pigs came into force in Spain, which are approximately 20-30% stricter than those laid down in European legislation. The government is now offering farmers who stop tail docking the opportunity to return to their original space requirements. Farms that implement a “Welfare Improvement Plan” and only dock part of the tails will be able to stock at a slightly higher density.
- In Germany the new registration phase for the Animal Welfare Initiative (ITW) will begin for piglet breeders who are not currently participating in the program. For every piglet demonstrably delivered to an ITW-certified fattening farm, there is an animal welfare payment of €4.50. No payment is made for animals delivered to non-ITW-certified fattening farms. The budget for the piglet fund is valid until December 31, 2026.
Events calendar:
- The Tirana International Fair, an annual trade fair in Albania’s capital, primarily focusing on agriculture, tourism, construction, energy, and best practices for environmental sustainability. The Fair takes place on 4 days from Wednesday, 05.11.2025 to Saturday, 08.11.2025
- The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair(RAWF or “The Royal”) is hosted at the Enercare Centre in Exhibition Place in Toronto. Recognized as the world’s largest indoor agricultural fair, it will take place on 10 days from Friday, 07. November to Sunday, 16. November 2025.
Crossroads
The measure announced by the Spanish authorities may sound as a new option to increase the numbers in the barns, but the pig farmers are loosing money under the current circumstances and they are note used to the cyclicity that is quite common in the other European countries. Most probably the farmers that are still independent will seek refugee under the umbrella of a large operation or abandon.
The German measure of the ITW is also having a federal budget only for next year, it is supposed to be paid by the consumers in the future, trough the higher price of the pork.
In the neighboring Netherlands the number of pigs slaughtered is decreasing. 278,600 pigs were slaughtered in week 41, while in week 42 there were over 5,000 fewer pigs, and in week 43, the number dropped again, by 2,000 to 271,300 animals. In week 43 last year, there were 289,500 pigs.
What can the slaughterhouses do? Denmark has a long history of cooperatives working in the pig industry. Also, some slaughterhouses started to threat the dominant position of the Danish Crown operations. In order to maintain the supply chain, the Danish Crown Group, farmers will receive a significantly higher subsidy in the future if they build a new pig farm. The current aid is 2.6 euro cents per kg for the first five years, increasing to 10.7 euro cents for the first year and then 1.3 euro cents to 5.3 euro cents in the last five years. On average, this represents an 8 euro cent increase in the price received by farmers who build new farms.
While depopulation is undergoing in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and uncertain in Spain, only Danmark shows a clear sign to support the continuation of the pig farming. Our business is at crossroads…
