EU pig prices continued to strengthen in May and the provisional figure for the EU as a whole averaged 133.7p/kg deadweight (at the exchange rate of 81p/euro).
This was about 11p/kg higher than the low point of 122.6p/kg recorded in March, although only 1.6p/kg more than the average for April.
Given some improvement in the weather conditions across most of the continent, there were some indications that the barbeque season has started, while ongoing good Asian demand also supported the market.
in the week ended May 18, the average EU prices was higher week-on-week than in 2013 for the first time at 133.8p/kg, which was 0.5p/kg higher tha the same figure last year.
For the latest week, the comparable UK pig price strengthened to 1.588p/kg, which widened the difference between the EU and the UK price to 25.1p/kg, the highest difference since mid-March.
The higher monthly average for the EU pig price in May was mainly driven by rising quotations in Germany. For the week ended May 25, pig prices there rose by 4.1p/kg compared with the last week of April.
Among other key markets, the Netherland and Poland both recorded increases of 1.6p/kg. Danish prices remained unchanged averaging just under 121.5p/kg. In contrast, other key markets showed declining prices, with the highest fall recorded in France (8.9p/kg), followed by Spain (6.5p/kg) and Belgium (4.9p/kg). The UK price was up 4.1p/kg, slightly less than the 4.9p/kg increase recorded in Ireland.