In early September, the quantities of live pigs on offer can still be absorbed by the market. So, slaughter pig prices could be maintained in most countries. The slaughter pig prices still are showing signs of weakness in the Southern countries such as Spain, France and in Great Britain. After the very hot summer temperatures in Spain, more live animals are on offer for sale yet again. The seasonal price decrease is continuing. Spanish exporters expect competition in the pork export market to quite severe from the USA.

    The French slaughter pigs market appears to be leaning toward the negative side. After the latest price reduction (a corrected 3.6 cents), the corrected quotation meanwhile is amounting to €1.58 per kg slaughter weight. Thus, the French quotation is moving the same way as the Dutch quotation, which has recently shown the red light recently in the European price structure of the five EU member countries that stand out in pig keeping. Within just seven weeks, the French corrected quotation has gone down by almost 11 cents. A lot of pressure has been exerted for quite some time on meat trade prices.

    In late September, all across the continent and almost without exception, the European slaughter pig markets are presenting decreasing prices. For seasonal reasons, the European quantities of slaughter pigs have recently been increasing on a weekly basis, while pork trade continues running at a more leisurely pace. There have been complaints from slaughter companies about sluggish domestic demand and a hesitant export business.

     As a result, the quotations are going down all across the board. The price decreases range from a corrected 3.5 cents quoted in France to 10 cents observed in the Netherlands. Because of the severe downward correction in the Netherlands, the Dutch now rank last, even behind France, in the European price structure among the five countries that stand out in pig keeping. The German quotation is now in line with Denmark, with just a very small difference between them.

     Even after the latest price decrease by a corrected 6 cents, the Spanish quotation keeps leading the list with its €1.77. Most recently, the quantities on offer were caused to back up by a public holiday in Catalonia. The drop in quotations is being balanced in Great Britain due to currency fluctuations as calculated by the ISN standard.

     Market participants all share the hope of European pork exporters getting back to being competitive again on a global level after the latest price decreases.