In most cases, the quotations went up noticeably, thus having bottomed out. Germany set a good example with its 6 cents’ price increase, now ranking before Denmark and France and being second in the European price structure of the five EU member countries richest in pigs. With its minor price movement, France ranks just behind Germany, followed suit by Denmark where the quotation remained unchanged. Even after following the German example and increasing their prices by 6 cents, too, the Netherlands remain last among the five countries richest in pigs.

In Belgium and Austria the quotations also went up considerably. After the last two weeks’ downward trend, Spain now maintains the level achieved. According to the latest prognosis given by the "Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft" (AMI: agricultural market informational association), the quantities of pigs produced in Germany threaten to shrink for the first time in a long while. A reason for that is seen in the increased production costs with revenues insufficient at the same time. As per the AMI, the pig stocks have already been reduced in other EU member countries. In Poland, for instance, the pig stocks were reduced by as much as 14 per cent altogether between November 2010 and March 2011. Denmark and the Czech Republic had their pig stocks reduced considerably. Similar to 2008, this kind of trend is expected to have a positive effect on the price development.

Trend for the German market: Should the past days’ heat continue, according to the weather forecast, the daily weight gains might be declining soon and the growth of the pigs mature for slaughter be coming to a halt. Presently, the quantities of pigs mature for slaughter on offer can be marketed completely. Demand is so good that some marketers report on batches sold early. Hence, the prices might go on increasing next Friday.

Explanation
¹corrected quotation: The official Quotations of the different countries are corrected, so that each quotation has the same base (conditions).
base: 56 per cent lean meat; farm-gate-price; 79 per cent killing out percentage, without value-added-tax (VAT)