November 4, 2013

BPEX Export Bulletin - 1 November 2013 (Week 44)
 

 

This week's export news

 

Exports to India are now allowed under certificate 7534EHC. There is demand for bacon, sausages and pork from this country.

 

EBLEX and BPEX were part of an AHDB-led mission to the Dominican Republic. The mission included a meeting with the Chief Veterinary Officer on market access, meeting with Ministers and supermarkets. We listed requirements for some pork cuts and sausages.
 

 

France

 

CIWF in action

The work of the association ranges from awarding trophies to good pig producers to less consensual events such as the demonstration organised next to Montparnasse station in Paris in September. A nine metre long and six metre high balloon representing a sow caught in a crate attracted a lot of curiosity from Parisians. A petition against tail docking and gestation crates for sows was signed by 35,000 people confirming that animal welfare is increasingly important to modern consumers.
 

Gluten free cooked ham

Fleury-Michon is launching the first gluten-free and celeriac-free Paris ham. In France there are 600,000 consumers with a gluten-intolerance and about 2.7 million allergic consumers. The new product retails at €2.85 for a pack of four slices (160g). The total number of gluten free prepared meals should almost double in 2014 to include 45 new recipes.
 

Offal retail prices

The drop of temperature in France is the signal for increased supply of offal on to French supermarket shelves. Prices collected in a Carrefour Market store this week: pork cheek at €7.50/kg, pork tongue at €5.90/kg and pork brains at €11.90/kg.
 

Markets

Pigs

A slowdown in German prices last Friday (October 25) destabilised European prices. The 56 TMP prices lost €0.015 last Monday (October 21) in Plérin. Offers were good despite left-over stock from the previous week, whilst abattoirs have limited demand due to a week with only 4 working days (1st Nov - bank holiday).

Piglets

The French market was stable at the beginning of week. Demand is stable with moderate supplies.

Cuts

The week is very calm as the month draws to a close and with school holidays. Consumption and sales should be higher over the next two days, thanks to last minute orders. Prices may come under pressure as the result of the slowdown of prices upstream.
 

Pork prices RUNGIS week commencing 28 October 2013
Cut name	Price range (Euro/Kg)
Back fat, rind-on	0.70
Trimmings	1.62
Leg	2.43
Loin including chump	2.95
Loin excluding chump	2.79
Belly extra without trimmings	2.68

 

 

Netherlands

 

Fall in slaughter numbers

In July, numbers fell by 8.8% to 1.026 million compared with July 2012. Numbers peaked in April at 1.3 million. This is to the benefit of German abattoirs whose output rose by 1.2% in the same month. Belgium fared well with a 3.2% rise. (Source: Boerderij Vandaag)
 

Price difference of castrates questioned

Marc van Rooi of the eponymous firm, the second largest pig processor in the country, questions the current price difference of €3 per pig between boars and hogs. According to him, €5 should reflect better production costs. Van Rooi still needs castrates for the French, Italian, German and Polish markets. (Source: Boerderij Magazine)
 

Compaxo installs cameras

The major Dutch abattoir in Zevenaar has installed cameras in its pig lairage to improve animal welfare – and due diligence. Last year, Compaxo implemented floor heating for its sick pen. Meanwhile, a producer has experimented successfully with the use of jute as nesting material for piglets after birth. The piglets are said to have more vitality after playing with the material. (Source: Boerderij Vandaag)
 

New organic feed mill

For Farmers opened a new mill for organic feed in Lochem with a capacity of 300,000 tonnes. This is the largest such mill in Europe. (Source: Boerderij Vandaag)
 

 

Germany

 

More French accusations

Following the high profile lay-offs in Gad, Tilly and Doux in Brittany, French minister Arnaud Montebourg accused Germany on Tuesday (October 29) of helping to cause a crisis in the French meat sector with unacceptable "wage dumping". French employers' hourly gross labour costs, including social security contributions, averaged €34.2 in 2012 against €30.4 in Germany, according to Eurostat. In Romania and Bulgaria, two countries that send a large number of workers to Germany, they averaged €4.4 and €3.7 respectively. The German meat industry group BVDF said the problem lay with France, not Germany. "Accusations of wage dumping have been coming from France for several years," said the BVDF's Thomas Vogelsang. He said the structure of the French meat industry made it uncompetitive and was costing it market share, and that in parts of Northern France where the criticism was particularly strong, there had been some form of state support for quite a time. (Source: Reuters)
 

Pig price under pressure

Following a decline in the pig price from €1.75 per kg to €1.70 a further decrease is most likely, the most favourable forecast predicts the price to fall to €1.63 per kg. High supplies with falling demand are the driver behind this prediction. German exports to China and Russia are reported to have come under pressure. For pig meat sales, prices for all cuts has eased on the market and are anticipated to remain under pressure in the coming week, particularly for hams, bellies and by-products.
 

Pork prices Hamburg Market Week commencing 28 October 2013
Cut name	Price range (Euro/Kg)
Round cut leg	2.40/2.60
Leg (boneless, rindless max fat level 3mm)	3.25/3.30
Boneless Shoulder	2.55/2.70
Picnic Shoulder	2.10/2.25
Collar	2.55/2.70
Belly (bone in, ex-breast)	2.35/2.45
Sheet Boned Belly (rindless)	2.35/2.55
Jowl	1.25/1.50
Half Pig Carcasses U class.	2.10/2.20

 

Spain

 

Pork prices Barcelona Market Week commencing 28 October 2013
Cut Name	Price range (Euro/Kg)
Gerona Loin Chops	2.63/2.66
Loin Eye Muscle	3.53/3.56
Spare Ribs	3.03/3.06
Fillets	5.53/5.56
Round Cut Legs	3.08/3.11
Cooked Ham	2.79/2.82
Rindless Picnic Shoulder	1.82/1.85
Belly	2.34/2.37
Smoked Belly with Spare Rib Section Cut off	2.77/2.80
Shoulder chap or Head Jowls	1.28/1.31
Back Fat, Rindless	0.73/0.76

 

China

 

Imports are rising

EU exporters are taking advantage of the ban on ractopamine-treated pork from the USA. Chinese imports to end of September are up 8% to 430,000 tonnes on 2012 – 25% up in the third quarter against the same quarter of 2012. The EU accounted for 63% of total Chinese imports compared with 46% a year earlier. Germany displaced the US as the largest supplier with its shipments up 44% on a year earlier. Canada and Poland also benefited from lower US exports. The UK shipped 14,700 tonnes in January-September 2013 with monthly shipments now settling down at just over 1,600 tonnes. (Source: AHDB)
 

Chinese wholesale prices week commencing 28 October 2013
	Price (RMB/Kg)	£/Kg	change on week
Pig Carcase	22.45	2..29	-0.47%
Source: BOACL
Prices collected from wholesale markets in 36 medium and large Chinese cities

 

 

Australia

 

Higher imports from the USA

According to Patrick Ballering, Vion's Sales Director, US exporters affected by the ban on US pork containing ractopamine, have used Australia as a substitute market, lowering import prices. (Source: Vion)
 

US$1 = EUR0.74 (November 4, 2013)