The week, the European mature pigs market is calm once more, states German industry group ISN. Although weather has improved, ISN said "incentives are still missing and market participants have been kept waiting," meaning price movements have been limited.

The German and Dutch quotations remained stable, having risen last week. Prices in Spain, Denmark and Austria also continued sideways. Prices in France fell by 2.8 cents after recent significant rises due to weak demand. In Belgium too, the price increases of last week were retracted.

British producers gained a marginal increase, but ISN said this was balanced with countries where prices remained level through fluctuations in currencies.

Despite the slow week, ISN remained optimistic that, from this weekend, some producers could begin to see rises, concluding "Both sunshine and increasing temperatures are conducive to the optimistic market sentiment."