The Junior Association of the German Fleischerhandwerk eV declares the federal government's planned training levy superfluous and describes it as counterproductive.

The butcher's trade traditionally provides a large number of apprenticeships for young people and, in some cases, trains regularly when needed. The number of training contracts concluded in the butcher's trade is continuously high. Many companies willing to train, however, lack those applicants who are willing and able to train. Often, training positions are advertised for years without it being possible to find suitable applicants. Many apprenticeships in the butcher's trade remain unfilled every year. Board member Dirk Ludwig from Schlüchtern sees imposing a fine on these companies as an affront to every righteous craftsman. "The main problem is not the lack of training places, but the lack of motivation among young people. With the lack of motivation on the part of the apprentices, the willingness of companies to provide training also falls in the long term," said Jochen Merz, a member of the board of the butchers' junior from Hösbach.

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Positive ham balance

"The quality and the taste of Parma ham are more than ever convincing consumers all over the world" - this is the conclusion drawn by the Consorzio del Prosciutto di Parma, the association of Parma ham manufacturers, after presenting the business figures for 2003 Last year, a total of 9,15 million Parma hams were produced by almost 200 factories in and around Parma. This corresponds to an increase of 4,7 percent. The total turnover that was achieved by the manufactories amounted to 810 million euros.

82% of the total production (7,5 million pieces) was sold in Italy, 18% (1,6 million pieces) were exported. Prosciutto di Parma is still the market leader in Italy with a market share of 40%; the most important European export markets are France (380), Germany and Great Britain (173).

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Fewer turkeys and ducks

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Since the beginning of the year, Polish deliveries of meat and meat products to Russia have been subject to the trading conditions that Russia has agreed with the EU. According to this, exporters can only export meat to Russia within the framework of the import quotas set by Russia in November last year at a favorable tariff of 15 percent. For the current year, Russia has set preference quotas totaling 420.000 tons of beef, 450.000 tons of pork and 1,05 million tons of poultry for the individual delivery regions.

Conversely, since Russian deliveries to Poland are now also subject to EU agreements with third countries and no longer to bilateral trade agreements, a trade dispute has sparked. This affects not only Poland, but all eight Eastern European accession countries that have had special trade agreements with Russia. If the EU Commission cannot come to an agreement with Russia on trading conditions, including with regard to the veterinary agreement, Poland's exports to one of the most important sales markets for agricultural products and food will be jeopardized.

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Livestock and Meat

At the meat wholesale markets, business with beef was comparatively quiet in the fourth week of March. However, the demand for precious parts shifted to preparatory purchases for Easter. At the slaughterhouse level, producer prices for slaughter cattle developed inconsistently: Due to the very short supply of slaughter cows, there were slight increases here again; in the young bull segment, on the other hand, the price peak is likely to have been passed. Male cattle for slaughter were available in sufficient numbers. Quotations often fell somewhat; this particularly affected young bulls of the higher quality levels. On average across Germany, young bulls in the R3 class brought in 2,51 euros per kilogram slaughter weight, three cents less than a week ago. For class O3 cows, the average price increased by three cents to 1,79 euros per kilogram. When shipping beef to France, prices remained unchanged at best. Trade with Greece fell sharply due to Lent there. Exports of beef to Russia have been steadily processed. – In the coming week, prices for young bulls are likely to fall slightly or just hold their ground. Stable to slightly firmer prices are expected for slaughter cows. – For veal and calves, stable to firm demands could be enforced. According to preliminary information, slaughter calves that were billed at a flat rate brought in 4,69 euros per kilogram on a federal average, which would be 15 cents more than in the previous week and 84 cents more than in the previous year. – Livestock calves could be sold at unchanged to firm prices with brisk demand and below-average supply.

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- The federal and state governments want to find common ground by the end of 2004 - Dr. Backhaus: standardized test and approval procedure finally in sight

One of the main items discussed at the Agriculture Ministers' Conference that ended today in Osnabrück was the comprehensive study recently presented by the Federal Research Center for Agriculture in Braunschweig, which, according to
dr Till Backhaus, Minister of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, shows concrete ways of finally developing standardized species-appropriate forms of husbandry for laying hens.

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Texas and part of British Columbia are still affected

The Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health today adopted the European Commission's proposals to limit the suspension of imports of live poultry, poultry meat and poultry meat products and eggs from the US and Canada to avian influenza outbreak areas and one large buffer zone. Restrictions across the United States and Canada were imposed after outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza were confirmed in the two countries. However, the current epidemic situation and the available information allow protective measures to be limited to certain areas. For the US, import restrictions are now limited to the state of Texas and for Canada to part of the province of British Columbia.

David Byrne, Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, said: "The time has now come for most of the import restrictions to be lifted, as all the necessary information from the two countries shows that cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza have been contained to a limited area. This shows the proportionality and flexibility of the EU's decision-making mechanisms based on risk analysis."

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Renate Künast reacts to foodwatch's schnitzel report with a tax proposal

[April Fool's Day 2004]

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Seminar teaches how to deal with business figures

At the end of the financial year, the result must be right. But what are the decisive factors and how can they be better recognized in order to positively influence the operating result in good time? How can business figures be used as a targeted control element to promote sales? The CMA Centrale Marketing-Gesellschaft der Deutschen Agrarwirtschaft mbH and the DFV Deutscher Fleischerverband eV address their seminar "Better recognition of opportunities - more effective influence on sales, costs and margins" to business owners and employees with managerial responsibility in the butcher's trade. In the two-day seminar, the speaker Manfred Gerdemann, himself a master butcher and business economist and has been a trainer for the meat industry for 25 years, provides competent answers to these and other questions. Because only those who know the numbers and know how to interpret them can identify problems at an early stage and act in good time in the future instead of just reacting.

On May 12th and 13th, 2004 everything revolves around sales, costs and margins in Hamburg. It is important to analyze the figures, data and facts of your own company precisely, because an exact company analysis is the basis for optimizing the sales result. In the seminar, the participants work out in a practical way which business data can be used to meaningfully compare the operating results over several years. You will learn which conclusions can be drawn for the future in order to better position your own butcher's shop in the market. In addition, the speaker promotes competent behavior towards banks. With proof of solid management and financing, the specialist shop is rated more positively by the banks. This in turn is the prerequisite for investments to increase sales. The participants learn to use their numbers to argue and prove where their own company stands and where the course should lead.

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 As reported by the Federal Statistical Office, the consumer price index in Germany is expected to increase by 2004% in March 2003 compared to March 1,1 (February 2004 compared to February 2003: +0,9%), according to available results from six federal states.

Compared to the previous month, there is a change of + 0,4%. The purely mathematical effect of the tobacco tax increase (1,2 cents + VAT per cigarette) on the overall index is +0,2% percentage points. The harmonized index of consumer prices for Germany, calculated for European purposes, is also expected to increase by 2004% in March 2003 compared to March 1,1 (February 2004: +0,8%). Compared to the previous month, the index rose by 0,5%.

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