The penultimate auction of the first quarter for most operators of the live market ended with an increase in purchase prices by 2-3 UAH/kg. This week, slaughter pigs were mainly purchased at 77-80 UAH/kg, although higher prices were occasionally heard. The weighted average market price was 78.3 UAH/kg, which is 3.8% higher than the previous week. The maximum quotations, as before, were recorded in the East and in the Centre, while the lowest prices were recorded in the Western regions.
The rise in the price of live bait had a corresponding impact on the quotes for chilled pork halves, so meat processors say that this week the market has adapted to the new higher prices, so it is difficult to give an unambiguous assessment of the sales. For example, some of them note that deep meat processing companies are not actively preparing for the holidays this year, and final demand is limited by weakened solvency, fasting and socio-economic uncertainty. At the same time, other procurers are convinced that if trade were more active, the pork shortage would be even more noticeable, although there is still a shortage of conditioned live bait in the East and South. In view of this, a number of meat processors believe that prices will not stay at the current level for long and may add 1-2 UAH/kg at the next auction.
The results of the weekly monitoring of purchase prices from processors can be found in this section.