Due to the most recent price drop, the ongoing struggle with low pig prices in Germany seems to have come to an end. After a two-week’s period, during which the Toennies and Vion slaughter companies had massively exerted pressure on the German pigs-mature-for-slaughter market by means of their own discounted prices, the quotation was no longer able to withstand the pressure and finally gave in to the requested price level.

The French quotation was also not able to maintain its price level, caving in by a corrected 1.5 cents. As was stated by one of the market participants, fresh meat was not sufficiently in demand with regard to the quantities of pigs mature for slaughter.

Regardless of the price decreases as observed in Germany, France and Great Britain, unchanged quotations are reported on from Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, and Austria, because of the well-balanced market situation. The Dutch quotation had already gone down by 3 cents a fortnight ago, when the discrepancies around discounted prices were first observed on the German market.

Due to the inconsistent price development, the German quotation fell back to rank 3 in the European price structure of the five EU member countries most important in pig keeping. France now ranks second, while Spain continues to lead the table well ahead of France.

Trend for the German market:

At the beginning of this week, the pigs-mature-for-slaughter market appears altogether balanced. Last Wednesday’s price decrease yet somewhat dampened the euphoria otherwise observed at this time of year. It must be stated that pigs for slaughter continue to be in demand. The purchasers are both willing and able to buy, therefore the market situation is most likely to remain steady.

^{_{(Source: ISN - Interessengemeinschaft der Schweinehalter Deutschlands)
1) corrected quotation: The official Quotations of the different countries are corrected, so that each quotation has the same base (conditions).
2) These quotations are based on the correction formulas applied since 01.08.2010.
base: 57 % lean-meat-percentage; farm-gate-price; 79 % killing-out-percentage, without value-added-tax}}

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