Thanks to the many connections and large international network of VAEX, we get pigs and heifers to the right destination as agreed. We know how to connect places with a surplus of piglets with areas where there’s a shortage. Knowledge of markets and having the right connections are crucial. The coronavirus crisis and African swine fever outbreaks have made things more complex and challenging, especially in Germany. We thrive in times of turmoil; this is when our strength and added value for European livestock farming come into their own.
It is a given that the pig market in the European Union will continue to change. In the Netherlands and Germany, a decline in the number of sows has started and will continue for some time. Structural cooperation with our Danish partner in the marketing of Danish piglets creates a stable basis. The Polish piglet market remains one of going flat out and slamming the brakes on. In Spain, pig farming is growing rapidly and compensating for the decline in the number of pigs in North-Western Europe. The sale of Dutch piglets to Spain is now around its peak and it may well be that Spain will be its own piglet exporter in a few years' time. Piglet purchasing areas are changing and VAEX is moving with such developments by building up new trading channels.
Italy remains an import market for good and heavy piglets. The development towards closed business structures is not in the Italian national nature. By serving that social market for the production of heavy pigs in a tailor-made way, we keep the piglet trade going and always look for opportunities. Like Poland, Romania will not be rid of African swine fever in the coming years. VAEX has been operating as a reliable trading partner in the dynamic Romanian pig market for fifteen years. Certainty about collecting money and keeping to agreements are appreciated by market parties and result in new collaborations and trade flows. We fill the space created there and in the surrounding countries with our passionate Romanian team in Arad.
One of the conditions in the piglet trade is to be open and honest about the origin and animal health. Knowing what you’re buying and selling is a must. Reliable data from pig farms is needed. Buyers want transparency because they can work efficiently with healthy animals and make a safe product from them. Basic issues are hygiene, the accurate vaccination of piglets and making cuts in health between the different animal categories. Food safety and minimising the use of antibiotics are issues for all markets in the EU, even if each country implements them in its own way. Worldwide, these health issues are also receiving full attention, while the global need for safe animal proteins is growing. By sending additional information with the meat, EU exporters can respond in a targeted manner.
Social pressure and animal welfare play an increasingly prominent role in the transport of livestock. Limiting the duration of animal transport in the EU is under discussion, as is the transport of livestock to countries outside the EU. Limiting the driving time to, say, eight hours for the transport of slaughter cattle to the slaughterhouse is understandable. If this also applies to the sale of piglets, countries like Denmark and the Netherlands will find it extremely difficult. Nor do I believe that the EU will decide to regionalise animal flows in this way in the next few years.
One point that concerns me is a possible European transport ban on animals at temperatures above 30 degrees. This would mean that in certain regions animal transports could not take place for three months a year. Inconceivable and impossible. Innovation in means of transport to transport animals in cool conditions is a solution. This requires creativity on the part of bodywork manufacturers in order not to increase the additional costs too much, and cooperation from government inspection agencies.
In the coming years, VAEX wants to focus more on the trade in meat and carcasses. I expect, for example, that the slaughter of slaughter piglets will take place more in the region, thus creating space for this specific trade flow. We will use our large network to expand the trade in meat and carcasses. We expect to play a more prominent role in streamlining the supply and delivery of small to medium-sized slaughterhouses and meat processors, mainly in Eastern and Southern Europe.