Supply and Demand More Closely Balanced
UK - The fresh-meat trade was steady on Friday, but one sensed smaller processors had found a little more trade over the past week. Possibly the reports of industrial action by angry Belgium farmers (usually the preserve of the French) may have tightened imported volumes, as it was often Belgium and Spanish pork being touted in this sector, causing issues with fickle wholesale buyers.
27 July 2009
2 minute read
With supply and demand closer to balance, one hopes we will see trade maintaining its current levels. DAPP surprisingly just eased upwards, which was almost certainly a reflection of more pigs in-spec, with reductions in back-fat and average weights. We predicted several weeks ago that this might happen.
Seasonally, October often sees the highest P2 readings, so now is a good time to review feed energy levels throughout the summer to mitigate the seasonal effect (summer being a term often used to describe what we should be having right now.)
Recent reviews by Eblex, carried out for the beef and lamb sector, throws up some interesting and encouraging statistics for pig producers. From January to 2009, if one excludes mince sales (a very important market for beef, but much less so for either lamb or pork) and concentrates on roast/grilling and frying cuts, beef’s share of the red-meat market has fallen from 41.8 percent to 38.6 percent, lamb has risen from 18.2 percent to 20.4 percent, and pork has moved into top spot, increasing from 40.1 percent to 41 percent.
Terminology has also changed, from pork being seen as a ‘cheap meat’ to a ‘best value proposition’. And consumers continue to use a wider range of pork cuts than they have previously. All great news for the pork supply chain.
