Slaughter cattle prices; preparation and announcement of the official price determination

The Bavarian State Institute for Agriculture compiles and publishes an official price quotation for producer prices of slaughter cattle on a weekly basis. There are currently not enough reporting companies to publish the sheep meat quotation.

The current slaughter cattle prices from the official price fixing are available for pigs and cattle every Tuesday (from 16). They represent the current slaughter cattle prices of the previous week for cattle and pigs (prices per kg carcass weight free to slaughterhouse, excluding VAT, including surcharges and discounts, for example for origin and quality programs or organic production).

Due to the constant change in supply and demand, market activity in the slaughter cattle sector is subject to strong fluctuations. A large number of suppliers (farmers or traders, producer groups, etc.) and buyers make it difficult to gain an overview of the market. In order to ensure market transparency, however, official price fixing was created. It forms the basis for meaningful and comparable prices.

The Bavarian State Research Center for Agriculture (LfL), Institute for Food Economics and Markets, is the body responsible for the preparation and publication of official price fixing in Bavaria.

The Meat Act and the first Meat Act Implementation Ordinance regulate the procedure.

Every company in Bavaria that slaughters more than 150 cattle, 500 pigs or 75 sheep on average per week is legally obliged to submit price reports.

This means approx. 12 notifications per week for cattle and calves and 15 for pigs. The remaining farms are exempt from the reporting obligation.

The following are reported

• Number of animals
• slaughter weight
• the price paid to suppliers weighed against the carcass weight, free on arrival at the slaughterhouse, broken down by category, commercial class and flat rate.