Cautious optimism

On the slaughter cattle market, positive surprises have been rare in recent years. German farmers must have been all the happier about the fixed prices for bulls and cows for slaughter in the past few weeks. The domestic supply was by no means as small as the fixed prices would have it appear. Rather, the battle numbers even exceeded the previous year's values ​​quite significantly. Although the fattening of young bulls in Germany is likely to continue to decrease in the coming years, the EU Commission is relatively optimistic in its long-term forecasts.

The results of the livestock census from May this year are not yet available. However, it seems clear that specialized cattle fattening was severely reduced in the run-up to decoupling. The first results from individual federal states show that the decline in the number of young bulls is in some cases in the double-digit percentage range. This trend could possibly continue until the turn of the year. At least that is what the persistently high rate of cattle slaughtering in Germany suggests. This year, despite the smaller number of livestock, almost three percent more cattle were hooked on a weekly average than in 2003. The proportion of young bulls slaughtered increased from around 40 percent in March to almost 46 percent in June.

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Private households bought slightly fewer eggs

On average, local consumers were somewhat reluctant to buy eggs in the first six months of this year: With around 3,7 billion eggs, they bought one percent less than a year ago, according to data from the GfK household panel commissioned by ZMP and CMA . However, in June 2004 they bought more eggs than in the same month last year and increased their purchases by around eight percent to 0,6 billion pieces.

Almost three quarters of all eggs were sold to private households in the first half of 2004 via the food retail trade. The discounters played the largest role with a market share of 45 percent, followed by the consumer markets, through which almost 20 percent of all eggs flowed. The Germans also liked to buy directly from the producer, where at least 13 percent of the eggs were sold.

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Children often adopt their mothers' eating habits

Children between the ages of XNUMX and XNUMX pay close attention to what they eat: they essentially imitate both their mothers' positive and negative eating behaviors and have a fairly good knowledge of food and healthy eating. However, this does not prevent them from enforcing their preferences and eating fewer vegetables than their mothers would like. They also declare McDonalds - in contrast to their mothers - to be their favorite restaurant.

According to the Institute for Youth Research (IJF) on behalf of ZMP and CMA, only one in ten children does not have breakfast before leaving the house. Everyone else takes an average of 15 minutes for breakfast. For school, most children get a snack or other food from their mothers. For the main meals at home, the children mainly eat noodles, rice or potatoes, with meat and vegetables being included in only a third of the cases.

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minister dr Backhaus handed over approval decision - investment creates work and improves sales opportunities for local agriculture

"The West Mecklenburg region will soon be richer by 250 new jobs and thus further strengthen its good reputation as a progressive location for the food industry in north-eastern Germany," said the Minister for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Dr. Till Backhaus (SPD) in Schwerin handing over an approval notice to representatives of Fleischwerk Edeka Nord GmbH.

When the company will soon put its new NORDfrische Center, a state-of-the-art meat processing plant, into operation in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, around 30 apprenticeships will be added to the number of full-time jobs announced at the beginning of the year. With the purchase of the property, which has now been completed, the Valluhn business park on the A 24 near Zarrentin (Ludwigslust district) is now finally set as the location.

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Business platform for dedicated grocers and top providers of organic food

The 1st Organic Trade Forum - inspired by Anuga - from September 20th to 21st, 2004 has had an excellent response. The forum organized by Koelnmesse in cooperation with the bioPress publishing house, the CMA - Centrale Marketing-Gesellschaft der Deutschen Landwirtschaftswirtschaft - and the Federal Ministry for Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture (BMVEL) offers a compact two-day congress program tailored precisely to the target audience. The accompanying exhibition is designed by top companies from the organic spectrum. For the 1st organic trade forum entitled "How can food retailers market organic ranges profitably?" Federal Minister Renate Künast has taken over the patronage.

The exhibiting companies include EP Naturprodukte from Austria, Grabower Sweets, NABA, the Naturland Association with numerous members, Rapunzel, Rila Feinkost, and Ulrich Walter. The range of products extends from delicatessen and chocolate to meat and sausage products, tea and spices, from fresh fruit and vegetables to baby food and dietary supplements.

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Organic products are used in every third canteen kitchen - kitchen and management make the difference

"Organic" is becoming more and more a matter of course in out-of-home catering: a third of canteen kitchens already use organically produced products, according to a representative survey by the University of Hohenheim on behalf of the federal program for organic farming. The canteen kitchens for community catering could become trendsetters and make organic products palatable to the masses - provided the kitchen and management support the innovative catering concept.

The researchers at the Hohenheim Institute for Social Sciences in the Agricultural Sector asked those responsible in 618 communal catering facilities and 676 kitchens in the catering trade whether and to what extent they use ingredients from organic farming. 31 percent of those surveyed in mass catering stated that they use food that is certified according to the EC Organic Regulation. In doing so, they are following the trend of private consumers, who are increasingly turning to organic products, also thanks to the state organic seal. Potatoes, eggs, vegetables and fruit from organic farming are in demand in mass catering, and are bought primarily for reasons of health, quality and environmental protection.

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Meat and sausage soon luxury goods?

In Russia, the demand for meat has increased significantly. This is the result of an evaluation by the Russian meat industry. For the first quarter of 2004, Russian market observers report a year-on-year increase in real income of 13,9 percent. At the same time, demand for poultry and meat products increased by four percent. The production of sausage and meat products increased by ten to 25 percent. Significantly lower stocks of meat, the serious decline in meat imports and higher production costs at producer level caused meat prices to rise sharply.

In the first quarter of 2004, almost 50 percent less meat was imported into Russia than in the same period of the previous year, both in terms of quantity and value. Exporters lost about 250 million US dollars in sales as a result. The imponderables in the issuing of import licenses and the brief ban on imports by the Russian authorities led to this restriction. Figures from April point to a return to normalization in import volumes. There are even reports of disproportionately high imports.

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In Switzerland, too, the meat business is not easy

In the first half of 2004, the leading Swiss meat processor Bell had to report a drop in profits. The reason for this is primarily the persistently high raw material prices. Sales increased by 2,3% to CHF 744 million, the consolidated result fell by 18,5% to CHF 15,9 million.

As expected, the consumer environment in the first half of 2004 proved to be very challenging for the Bell Group. Above all, the persistently high price level had an inhibiting effect on consumption. As a result of the higher price level, sales rose by 2,3% to CHF 744 million, but the volume output by the companies was only within the range of the previous year. At CHF 2004 million, profit development in the first half of 15,9 was around 18,5% below the previous year and therefore below expectations.

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Prices fell

A sufficient supply of lambs for slaughter contrasted with only weak interest in lamb among local consumers in July. The producers of slaughter lambs therefore received a little less for their animals from week to week.

The mean for lambs billed at a flat rate reached only 3,30 euros per kilogram slaughter weight in July, which was another 33 cents less than in the previous month. The previous year's level was thus undercut by 55 cents.

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Livestock and Meat

In the second week of August, beef trading at the wholesale markets was somewhat quieter than in the previous week. The prices for sides of beef hardly changed and only the finest pan-fried items were constantly in demand. There was a tight supply of cows for slaughter, young bulls were for sale regionally a little more than in the previous week; however, there was no change in the payout prices for either female or male slaughter cattle. According to a preliminary overview, young bulls of the meat trading class R3 brought in a weekly average of 2,58 euros per kilogram slaughter weight. The quotations for slaughter cows in the trade class O3 remained at 2,07 euros per kilogram slaughter weight. When exporting to neighboring countries, roast beef from young bulls and processed goods could be marketed somewhat better. Prices mostly remained at the previous week's level, only in some cases slightly firmer demands could be pushed through. If the demand for beef does not receive any impulses in the coming week, the prices for young bulls should at best hold their ground at the same level. The prices for slaughter cows are expected to remain stable. Veal was steadily being marketed on the Hamburg wholesale market, while business was rather quiet on the Berlin wholesale market. The prices hardly changed compared to the previous week. On the veal slaughter market, supply and demand were largely balanced. After the slight price reductions of the past week, the quotations remained at the same level.- Demand for livestock calves was weaker and the prices tended downwards.

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Slaughter cattle prices above previous year's level

Significantly fewer slaughter cattle were available for sale in the EU in July. The prices developed inconsistently, but young bulls and slaughter cows brought in more than in the previous year. The range of pigs for slaughter was not too extensive, so that the suppliers usually got more money than before. The European chicken markets tended to be consistently balanced. There was little movement in the turkey sector. The egg market was characterized by weak demand and price pressure in the summer. The reduction in intervention prices for butter and skimmed milk powder did not have an immediate effect on the milk market. Slaughter cattle and slaughter pigs

The supply of slaughter cattle across the EU was noticeably smaller in July than in the previous month; in Germany slaughter fell by around two percent, in the Netherlands by almost nine percent and in Denmark by almost five percent. Compared to July 2003, significantly more animals were slaughtered, especially in Denmark and the Netherlands. The payout prices for slaughter cattle developed inconsistently from June to July.

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