Denmark, Spain and France, the prices remain unchanged. After the past weeks’ price increases, Denmark is waiting for exports to be stimulated and thus cause prices to go on increasing. With supply being slightly less in quantities in France presently, there are too few opportunities still to have pig prices increase. Spain was able to elude the weakening of prices which usually occurs after Easter.

Going up by a corrected 3 to 4 cents, the prices in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Ireland and Belgium increased considerably. Price increases can mostly be attributed to the reduced supply of pigs mature for slaughter in north-west Europe in particular (from Brittany in France to Lower Saxony in Germany) and to increased (especially domestic) demand. As a result of changes in currency exchange rates, Sweden had to accept prices to decrease by a corrected 2 cents, whereas Great Britain achieved a 4 cents’ price increase.

Trend: With demand still being brisk and supply of pigs mature for slaughter not being excessive, market participants expect the market conditions to remain steady at least.

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-percentage; farm-gate-price; 79 per cent killing-out-percentage, without value-added-tax (VAT)