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According to information from the Federal Statistical Office, the wholesale price index in January 2004 was 0,4% higher than in January 2003. In December and November 2003 the annual rates of change were + 1,3% and + 1,5%, respectively. The overall index excluding petroleum products increased by 2004% in January 1,1 compared to the same period in the previous year.
The noticeably lower increase in the annual inflation rate is mainly due to a statistical base effect: the sharp price increases in January 2003 (at that time wholesale prices also rose by 1,2% as a result of increased ecotax and tobacco tax rates) are no longer included in the annual rate calculation for the first time.
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Store prices follow the scarce market supply
The German slaughter companies have had to spend more money on their young bull purchases in the past few weeks: because the local market was still scarce with animals ready for slaughter, but demand continued to run normally. The price surge on the upstream market levels was followed by retail prices for high-quality cuts.
A kilogram of braised beef, which consumers still got for an average of 8,37 euros in December, cost an average of 8,66 euros in January; the price for fillet of beef rose in stores from 24,20 euros per kilogram in December to an average of 24,46 euros in January. The claims for minced beef remained stable at the national average at around 5,80 euros per kilogram, while the price of cooked meat fell slightly from 4,93 euros to 4,85 euros per kilogram.
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Noticeably larger offer
A significantly smaller supply was available on the slaughter pig market at the beginning of the new year, while demand from the slaughter companies was brisk. The available animals could therefore be sold smoothly at fixed prices. The meat processing industry also showed increasing interest in processed goods. In the middle of January, however, the pig supply quickly returned to a high level, so that the animals offered could only be placed on the market at unchanged prices. It was only towards the end of the month that, despite the still unsatisfactory meat shops, the slaughterhouses had to increase their payment prices again due to the supply.
The monthly average for fattening pigs of meat trade class E was 1,16 euros per kilogram slaughter weight, which was six cents more than in December, but that was still six cents less than a year ago. On average across all trade classes E to P, the slaughter paid EUR 1,11 per kilogram, also six cents more than in the previous month and six cents less than at the beginning of 2003.
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The Egyptian government has conditionally lifted the ban on imports of beef and veal from the Netherlands from the Netherlands in late 2002. Egyptian veterinarians are to carry out health checks on exporting Dutch companies immediately after the conclusion of export contracts. A health certificate authorizing export can only be issued if the result of the inspection is unobjectionable.
Egypt has long been the main third country export market for Dutch beef. In the 90s, the Netherlands raised more than 20 million euros a year there. In addition to the Netherlands, only Ireland is currently allowed to export beef to Egypt among the EU countries.
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Pork is the favorite in East Germany
The preferences for certain types of meat are quite different in Germany: For example, above-average amounts of pork are eaten in the eastern German countries, with beef and veal being the former federal territory. In the opinion of the ZMP market researchers, this is not only due to traditional eating habits, but also to the different prices for these types of meat.
The national average of pork consumption in 2002 was 53,7 kilograms per inhabitant. According to ZMP estimates, the new federal states and Berlin accounted for 62,8 kilograms; 51,3 kilograms on the old federal territory. The pioneers in pork consumption are the people in Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, who consume on average between 65 and 66 kilograms of pork per person per year. The bottom of the list are consumers in Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg with an annual per capita consumption of 49 to 50 kilograms.
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Demand received impulses
The supply of domestic lambs for slaughter was comparatively tight in the first month of the new year. Since the demand for lamb received noticeable impulses in mid-January against the background of the Muslim Festival of Sacrifice, the wholesale market prices rose significantly; Surcharges could be enforced especially for clubs and foreparts. Suppliers of animals for slaughter also benefited from this, as they were able to continuously push through slightly higher prices for their lambs.
For lambs billed at a flat rate, producers received an average of EUR 3,69 per kilogram of slaughter weight in January, 14 cents more than in December. However, the comparable previous year's revenues were still missed by 34 cents. The notifiable slaughterhouses accounted for around 1.200 lambs and sheep per week, partly on a flat-rate basis, partly according to commercial classes. This meant that the supply available was 8,4 percent smaller than in December; however, it was almost exactly the January 2003 offer.
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Out-of-home spending fell in 2003
In 2003, Germans spent less money on eating and drinking in the hospitality industry. The average price for food and drinks in restaurants, cafés, canteens and other places of consumption outside the home fell to 351 euros per inhabitant, which, according to the Federal Statistical Office, was on average 19 euros less than a year earlier. In 1993, on the other hand, each inhabitant had spent an average of EUR 434 on food and drink away from home, EUR 84 more than in 2003. During this period, sales of food and drink in the catering trade rose by EUR 6,4 billion or 18 percent to around 29 billion euros back.
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Production too big?
In the Netherlands, around 20 percent of the organic meat produced had to be sold at prices for conventional goods in the past few months due to a lack of demand. That is why the Dutch organic butcher chain De Groene Weg/Dumeco has suggested that organic pig farmers reduce their production volumes. The basis for calculating the "quota" is the average weekly slaughter of 1.120 organic pigs in the past year.
According to the ideas of the butcher chain, the number of slaughtered pigs is to be reduced to 850 pigs per week in the future. In addition, the company wants to reduce the guaranteed producer price from 2,37 euros per kilogram slaughter weight of organic pork to 2,20 euros per kilogram. Under the new conditions, according to calculations by the organic chain, 23 organic pig farmers would have to switch back to conventional production for economic reasons. According to the Institute for Agricultural Economics LEI, the average production costs in 2003 were 2,56 euros per kilogram of carcass weight.
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At the suggestion of the Prime Minister of Lower Saxony, Christian Wulff, the Federal President awarded Mr. Paul-Heinz Wesjohann the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. Lower Saxony's Minister for Rural Areas, Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, Hans-Heinrich Ehlen, presented this prestigious award to the honoree at a ceremony in Visbek-Rechterfeld. Paul-Heinz Wesjohann has rendered outstanding services to the public good through his diverse and long-term commitment both in his company and in a wide variety of honorary positions. In his speech, Minister Ehlen referred to Wesjohann's forward-looking management of the Paul-Heinz Wesjohann Group (PHW Group). It is thanks to him that the company has been using an integrated system with a complete proof of origin in the poultry industry since 1995.
Also with a view to the early abandonment of animal meal or antibiotics, Minister Ehlen attested that the entrepreneur played an important role in consumer protection and food safety. Parallel to the successful expansion of the PHW Group to meanwhile 30 associated medium-sized companies with a total of around 3800 employees, Paul-Heinz Wesjohann has also been involved in professional organizations for decades. Among them since 1973 membership in the board of the Federal Association of Poultry Slaughterhouses.
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Hearing in the Committee on Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture
Representatives of the German food and confectionery industry, as well as the advertising industry, sharply criticized the draft Commission’s draft regulation on nutritional and health-related information on food presented by the EU Commission at a public hearing of the Committee on Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture on Monday afternoon (Council document no. 11646/03) and on the addition of vitamins and minerals as well as certain other substances to foods (Council Doc. No. 14842/03). The former regulation aims to establish general principles for the use of nutrition and health claims in the labeling of food in the EU and to protect consumers from misleading advertising. In the future, non-verifiable information on general well-being should be prohibited. In order to prevent misleading nutritional information, precise conditions for the use of terms such as "reduced fat", "low in sugar" etc. are specified. Health-related information based on undisputed scientific knowledge should be included in a "positive list" and advertising messages with specific health promises should be expressly approved by the EU Commission. The second regulation provides, among other things, uniform EU regulations for the voluntary addition of vitamins and minerals to foods.
For the representatives of the Central Association of the German Advertising Industry (ZAW), the Federal Association of the German Confectionery Industry (BDSI) and the Federal Association of the German Food Industry, the planned regulation on nutrition and health-related information violates Community law because it involves a disproportionate interference with the rights of advertising companies and also impermissibly restrict consumer information rights. In addition, the draft regulation only stipulates that the harmonization of the internal market is in the foreground. In reality, it is a massive regulation in the areas of health and consumer protection, for which the EU has no regulatory competence. The ZAW also complained that health-related statements that were previously permitted without restrictions would have to be subjected to an extremely bureaucratic approval process in the future. The associated effort overwhelmed especially small and medium-sized companies. In this way, established markets would be cemented and the market entry of new participants would be "disproportionately" difficult. According to the BDSI, the proposed regulations represent a paradigm shift from ex-post state control of nutritional and health-related information to a combination of extensive bans and the obligation to fundamentally only allow health-related information to be approved using a complex process. If the draft regulations become a reality, a considerable loss of jobs in the confectionery industry can be expected. The representative of the Federal Association of the German Food Industry supported the deletion of the planned introduction of so-called nutritional profiles, which foods should have in a positive way in order to be able to carry nutritional and health-related statements in the future, since their benefits are not adequately substantiated from a nutritional point of view be.
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On the occasion of the hearing in the Committee for Consumer Protection, Nutrition and Agriculture on nutritional and health-related claims and vitamin additives in foods, Ulrike Höfken, consumer and agricultural policy spokeswoman for the Bundestag faction of Alliance 90/THE GREENS, explained:
In principle, we welcome the proposed regulations presented by the European Commission for reasons of consumer and health policy. With the relaxation of the previous ban on disease-related food advertising, the food industry now has the opportunity to positively emphasize information on reducing the risk of disease. Scientific proof and the standardization of health claims promote fair competition and improve the free movement of goods.
