April 28, 2009

German pig prices down 3.5 percent on swine flu fears

German pig futures prices fell by around 3.5 percent on Monday (Apr 27) as fears of swine flu will cut pork consumption, traders said.

Pigs for June delivery on the RMX futures exchange in Hanover were down EUR0.55 at EUR1.50 per kilogramme.

A German pig futures trader said swine flu reports knocked the prices down but the fall was relatively moderate, however, there is still a great deal of fear in the market.

Another trader said that it is too early to say whether this is a serious disease which will affect Europe, but the concern is similar to what happened with bird flu, when poultry sales went down because people were worried about the illness even though the disease was only a significant problem in Asia.

Despite the name, the new flu strain that has killed over 103 people in Mexico is not infecting pigs and has never been seen in pigs, but perceptions of a link could discourage consumer purchases of pork.

US$1 = EUR0.768 (Apr 28)