Even if the number of slaughter pigs increases in some countries, as expected, the public's concern over poultry could well result in people switching from poultry to other meats such as pork. As a minimum this should help to stabalize prices.

In Spain and France, forward prices are remaining stable and reports are that demand from the slaughter companies remains good. On the other hand, this situation is sporadic. The higher prices seen in Italian have eased now that the Winter Olympic Games in Torino have started and forward prices in Italy are now approaching Spanish levels.

Trend: Further price developments will depend very much on how consumers across Europe change their menus and swap pork for poultry, for fear of bird flu. Should significant numbers make the switch (which is expected to happen by many market participants), prices are most likely to increase.

(Source: ISN - Interessengemeinschaft der Schweinehalter Deutschlands)

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