In the majority of countries, the quantities of pigs for slaughter on offer continue to be large, so there is hardly any room left for the fixing of prices. The interim hopes, for instance, for price increases to be realised in Germany and Austria could not be fulfilled on Friday. The prices, however, for sows for slaughter went up by 4 cents in Germany as a result of low quantities of sows for slaughter on offer and of brisk demand for processed pork. In Sweden, the pigs-mature-for-slaughter price went up by 6.5 cents after a nine weeks’ period of unchanged prices. Yet, Sweden goes on carrying the red light in the European price structure system.

Spain alone had to cope with prices going down by 2 cents once again. A decisive factor for that is that ham is sold less easily and that many holidaymakers are leaving Spain for their home countries. Over the period from January to May 2011, 1.9 per cent more pigs (amounting to almost 17 million) were slaughtered in Spain than had been the same period last year.

Trend for the German market: Looking at the days ahead, one finds the quantities of pigs mature for slaughter to remain on an extensive level. Some marketers report of slightly decreasing quantities. The slaughter companies are well interested in buying, so the batches are sold more swiftly than before. Barbecuing, however, would be less important for pork sales with the temperatures being much more like autumn than summer. But positive impetus is provided for by the beginning of the new month and the ending of the summer holidays in almost all German federal states. Thus, the prices are expected to remain unchanged for the week ahead.

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