National Pig Association THE VOICE OF THE UK PIG INDUSTRY NPA is active on members' behalf in Brussels & Whitehall, and with processors, supermarkets & caterers – fighting for the growth and pros-perity of the UK pig industry.

The ISN came up with this idea because official quotations by individual countries are not entirely comparable because of different criteria being used (lean meat share, slaughter numbers, marketing conditions.)

It transpires, says ISN, that the quoted prices give a misleading impression, restricting market transparency. By weighting prices to make them comparable, ISN has discovered:

• Price differences are considerably lower than is quoted.
  
  

• Germany, far from being one of the countries in the upper pricing range, is actually average or even in the lower third. (Essentially, this wrong evaluation results from official quotations calculated ex abattoir in Germany and not including any pre-costs.)
  
  

• Almost the same price level prevails on all major pig markets, as the euro smooths out currency differentiations and the European slaughter industry gets increasingly concentrated, making country borders less burdensome.

Non-members can buy the report for 49 euros. To see the corrected prices go here

Source: Digby Scott - National Pig Association - 4th August 2004