Meat and dairy products cheaper

As reported by the Federal Statistical Office, the consumer price index for Germany rose by 2004% in July 2003 compared to July 1,8. Compared to June 2004, the index increased by 0,3%. The estimate for July 2004 based on the results from six federal states was thus confirmed. In May and June 2004 the annual rate of change was +2,0% and +1,7% respectively.

The price development of petroleum products in July had a noticeable impact on inflation: Without heating oil and motor fuels, the annual rate of change would have been +1,5%. Compared to July 2003, light heating oil increased in price by 17,2%, fuel prices increased by 8,2%. Crude oil also had a price-driving effect in a short-term comparison: motor fuels and light heating oil cost 1,8% and 4,7% more than in the previous month. Without including mineral oil products, the consumer price index would have increased by 2004% from June to July 0,2.

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Prices on the up

The supply of pigs for slaughter was rather tight in July compared to the demand from the slaughterhouses. The quantities offered could therefore be placed with the slaughterhouses without any major problems. The payout prices for slaughter animals stabilized up to the middle of the month, and in the second half of the month they were stable at the level they had been reached. In the first weeks of July, trade in pork was without any lasting impetus due to the weather, and interest only picked up slightly towards the end of the month.

The prices for slaughter pigs in meat trading class E climbed a further seven cents to 1,54 euros per kilogram slaughter weight on a monthly average; the providers received 25 cents more than a year ago. On average, across all trade classes E to P, pigs cost 1,50 euros per kilogram, which was eight cents more than in June and 26 cents more than a year ago.

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Prices increased significantly in 2004

According to the Statistical Office in Prague, the Czech Republic produced around 2004 tons of beef and pork in the first half of 251.750, 3,5 percent below the previous year's level. Beef production fell particularly sharply during this period, namely by 6,4 percent to 51.160 tons, while pork production shrank by 2,8 percent to 200.500 tons. Only sheep and goat meat production increased by a quarter.

Generation in the second quarter of this year fell disproportionately compared to the same period of the previous year; that of beef was down 8,9 percent and that of pork down 6,3 percent. The reason for this is the declining animal population. However, in the year to date, pig and beef prices in the Czech Republic have been producer-friendly. From the beginning of the year to the end of July, they increased by nine percent for young bulls, by 21 percent for cows and by 41 percent for fattening pigs.

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Trade outraged by Künast plans

The Federal Ministry of Consumer Affairs (BMVEL) is planning to extend the very comprehensive and far-reaching labeling requirements for pre-packaged foods to foods that are offered predominantly by way of service, so-called loose goods. Holger Wenzel, General Manager of the Main Association of German Retailers (HDE), explained the following at the association hearing in the Ministry of Consumer Affairs on the intended change to the Food Labeling Ordinance in Berlin:

It is impossible for the food retail trade to comprehensively label all ingredients of loose goods, eg fresh cheese, sausage, baked goods and delicatessen. With its demands, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs shoots far beyond any reasonable measure. This labeling for loose goods is neither intended by the EU nor is there an actual need. Such an obligation would mean considerable additional burdens and costs for companies. The range of loose goods varies constantly and is partly prepared according to daily changing recipes. Especially when it comes to fresh goods, seasonal specialities, special offers that are only available for a short time and regional specialties make the wide range of products so attractive for customers. If the plans of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs were implemented, every change in the offer would result in an adjustment of the ingredient labeling. The implementation and maintenance effort, especially for service counters, would be enormous. In addition, there would be the practical problems of assigning the lists of ingredients to the respective products in a counter.

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Motive had already been objected to two years ago

The German Advertising Council publicly denounced the Swiss company Dorit (Ellwangen) because of an advertising motif published in a German specialist magazine which, in its opinion, degrades women.

The company manufactures machinery for meat processing. One subject shows a machine tumbling ham. Immediately next to this plump device, a woman's buttocks are stretched out of the picture. The ad is captioned with the statement "Best ham". Below is the text "Every ham needs the right treatment".

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Event tip

The registration deadline for the Cofresco Institute's European Conference on Fresh Food Packaging is approaching. Interested parties can still register for the conference, which will take place in Freising on October 17th, until September 6th.

The European Conference on Fresh Food Packaging on October 6th in Freising is organized by the Cofresco Institute in cooperation with its partners, the Fraunhofer IVV, the Chair for Food Packaging Technology at the Technical University of Munich, the Institute for Agrotechnology & Food Innovations at the University of Wageningen and INRA Avignon . With the "European Conference", the Cofresco Institute intends to set up an international research platform in the field of household packaging.

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Hardly any impact on the EU lamb market

The enlargement of the EU by ten new states has hardly any noticeable impact on the sheep and lambs market. According to the European Statistical Office, Hungary had by far the largest sheep population of the new member states in December 2003 with just under 1,28 million animals. This puts Hungary in ninth place between Germany and the Netherlands on the EU sheep population scale. It is noteworthy that the Hungarians increased their herds by 16 percent compared to the previous year.

The next places in the accession countries are Poland and Slovakia, each with a good 0,3 million sheep. While the population in Slovakia increased by three percent compared to 2002, it remained more or less stable in Poland. It is followed by the Cypriot sheep population with almost 0,3 million animals. In the other countries from Slovenia to Malta there are only very small flocks of sheep. However, overall, compared to 2002, the sheep population increased by around 7,5 percent, while the number in the EU-15 fell by 1,2 percent. Overall, however, only just under three percent of the sheep in the enlarged EU are kept in the new member states.

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Germany main buyer of turkey parts

According to its own figures, France exported around 2004 tons of poultry meat in the first quarter of 144.750, which was seven percent less than in the first quarter of 2003. Deliveries to EU countries in particular fell, by eleven percent to 57.300 tons. Germany remained the most important EU buyer with almost 13.700 tons, but there was also a decline of nine percent. French deliveries to the United Kingdom and Belgium fell by around a quarter to 8.100 tons and 8.350 tons respectively. France delivered 87.440 tons of poultry meat to third countries, five percent less than in the first quarter of 2003. The most significant decline was in Russia.

The biggest slump was in the export of turkey parts, which fell by 23 percent to 41.860 tons. Of this, 15 tons reached the EU-20.245 countries, 26 percent less. 6.650 tons were delivered to Germany, the main customer for French turkey parts within the EU, 17 percent less than in the previous year. At 59.585 tons, exports of whole chickens fell moderately below the previous year's level at minus four percent. 42.260 tons of this alone were destined for the Near and Middle East.

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Annual meeting of the DGHM

The spectrum of key topics at the 56th annual meeting of the German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology (DGHM), which takes place from September 26th to 29th, 2004 in the Münsterland hall in Münster, ranges from food infections to new vaccination strategies. Local organizers are the Münster University Institutes for Hygiene under the direction of Prof. Dr. Helge Karch, for Medical Microbiology under the direction of Prof. Dr. Georg Peters and for infectiology under the direction of Prof. Dr. M. Alexander Schmidt. Co-organizer of this congress, to which 600 to 800 participants are expected, is the specialist group bacteriology and mycology of the German Veterinary Society.

Scientists from other European countries will present their research results or report on the current state of knowledge in their field, particularly in the plenary lectures, but also in individual symposia and specialist group events. The main topics include so-called "Emerging Infectious Diseases", i.e. current and dangerous infectious diseases such as SARS, foodborne infections, polymicrobial diseases, i.e. diseases caused by several pathogens, cystic fibrosis, sepsis, biofilm and new vaccination strategies. Other focal points are the interdisciplinary topics "Bioinformatics in Microbiology" and "Genomics and Pathogenomics", which are nowadays gaining influence on almost all biological and medical research topics.

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Result of the census from the beginning of June

The pig population in Austria continued to decrease. This is shown by the results of the most recent livestock census, which was carried out on a sample basis. According to this, the population on June 1, 2004 totaled a good 3,15 million animals. That was almost six percent less than in the previous year's census and almost three percent less than in December 2003. The downward trend of the last census has continued and the Austrian pig population is steadily approaching the three million animal limit.

The destocking ran through all animal categories. The stock of young pigs fell by 8,4 percent below the previous year's mark; the number of fattening pigs has fallen by almost five percent in the past twelve months, and the number of piglets has also fallen by about the same amount. There was a drop of almost five percent in the breeding sows, with the minus in the mated animals at a good three percent being significantly lower than in the unmated animals, the number of which fell by more than seven percent.

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Per capita consumption rose again in 2003

German consumers ate more fish again last year: With 14,4 kilograms of fish, crustacean and mollusc meat per person, they increased their consumption by 2002 grams compared to 400, according to preliminary data from the Federal Statistical Office and the Federal Office for Agriculture and Nutrition. However, the highest per capita consumption of 15,3 kilograms from 2001 was not reached; At that time, because of the BSE crisis in the beef market, Germans had increasingly turned to poultry and fish.

In an international comparison, however, German consumers are not significant fish eaters. They are far from reaching the consumption levels of the world leaders, who, like the Icelanders, consume around 90 kilograms of fish per capita per year or the Japanese and Portuguese, each with more than 60 kilograms per person.

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