5xD pork - solution to the price problem? Born, raised, fattened, slaughtered, processed in Germany around 25% of pigs did not meet the 5xD rule in 2020. 5.5% of these were imported pigs for slaughter. 1,303,321 animals were delivered from the Netherlands. 361,802 slaughter pigs came from Belgium. Introduced piglets were in the range of around 10 million animals or just under 20%. The situation changed in the first half of 2021. According to slaughter statistics, only 2.44% of foreign slaughter pigs were imported alive. Still, the prices haven't gotten any better. The number of imported piglets from Holland also fell by around 10%. Almost 8% fewer piglets were imported from Denmark. Because the German piglet production has also decreased, the foreign piglet share changes only slightly to around 18%. And the piglet prices have fallen!Germany had a pork self-sufficiency rate of 125% in 2020. The import volume was 956,600 t (of which 954,000 from EU countries). The exports reached an order of magnitude of 2,278,400 t . Of this, 1,696,100 t were exported to the EU countries. About 302,000 t were delivered to Italy , 128,300 t to the Netherlands, 120,300 t to Poland and 41,400 t to Denmark. In the first half of 2020, China was still on the export list with 380,000 t. Preferential price treatment of 5xD pork will put meat, pork and piglet imports at a disadvantage. This will push back imports even further and contribute to lower prices in the surplus countries. The neighboring regions of the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark are particularly hard hit. The backlash will not be long in coming. It will be difficult to cope with around 10 million piglet imports.In addition to the question of a sufficiently reliable control of 5xD pork including the processed goods, there are further market and price distortions in the EU internal market, which will not remain without repercussions on the German market. There is no simple solution to the current price misery with the 5xD pork concept in a common EU market.
