Supplies are still selling easily as a result of the Christmas business and of an active export front. Hence, many quotations have remained at the level achieved over the last few weeks.

The Danes are acting on the assumption that the prices have finally bottomed out. For the first quarter of 2008, the Danish slaughter companies expect brisk demand to come in from Russia. It's a convenient and somewhat steadfast prospect since Canada is currently barred from exporting any kind of meat toward Russia. The Russians are complaining about finding massive forgeries in vet certificates.

On the other hand, Polish companies are now being allowed to deliver pork into Russia again - for the first time in two years - and the European market is expected to glean some benefit from this.

With respect to prices, Spain is on the upswing. Prices have increased by 13 cents within just four weeks and are exceeding the German corrected quotation.

Trend: The price structure is not expected to change significantly over the next few weeks. However, market experts are still uncertain about how the market will cope with closed slaughter lines around the turn of the year.