German pig prices remained firm this week as sales inside Europe helped stabilize markets following import bans on German pork imposed last year by China and other Asian buyers, traders and industry sources said on Wednesday.
Prices were unchanged on the week at the high of 1.50 euros a kg slaughter weight touched in the second week of March and up from 1.21 euros in February, German animal farmers’ association VEZG said.
Piglet prices rose to 53 euros per animal from 51 euros last week and only 32.50 euros in early February, the association said.
Asian countries, including China, banned German pork imports in September 2020 after African swine fever (ASF) was found in wild boars in east Germany, causing falling pig prices. This changed trade flows, with other EU countries exporting to China, but as more German pork is being sold inside the EU, German prices are being supported.
“Denmark and Spain seem to have been selling a lot to China,” one German meat trader said. “China looks like becoming Denmark’s largest pork customer.”
There have been 845 ASF cases confirmed in wild boar, not farm animals, in Germany close to the Polish border. The governments of Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic agreed that boar hunting should be stepped up to combat the outbreak, Germany’s agriculture ministry said on Monday.
German slaughterhouses and meat packers were disrupted by COVID-19 outbreaks in past months, with slowdowns following tougher health and safety standards, causing a backlog of pigs on farms waiting to be slaughtered. This backlog has been dealt with, traders said.
(Reporting by Michael Hogan; editing by John Stonestreet)
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