The downward trend has come to a halt, having hit rock bottom. The German, Belgian, Dutch, Danish and Austrian quotations are moving sideward, all of them showing balanced market situations.

Demand for barbecue meat wangled the stimulus needed for the market. According to first reports, the past weeks’ price reductions have had a positive influence on export demand.

The French quotation went up slightly on Thursday. Yet, the French producers are not very satisfied with the price level of a corrected 1.57 euros reached so far. They still hope for the prices to increase.

In Spain, the producers have to accept a price decrease for the third time in a row. At a corrected price level of 1.754 euros per kg slaughter weight, the Spanish remain top of the list in the European price structure among the five major pig producing countries. As a result of last week’s public holiday, the quantities on offer there are larger than demand. The export business, which is very important from the Spaniards’ point of view, is unsatisfactory as well.

Trend for the German market: The German slaughter market is affected by an optimistic market sentiment. At the beginning of the week, demand for live pigs partly exceeded the quantities on offer. Therefore, the prices are expected to remain unchanged at least.