| What
happened this week:
Today's
events and the emergence of the new
Corvid 19 variant initially create a
completely new situation. The reaction
was all the more severe because the
markets in America were sparsely
occupied due to yesterday's Thanksgiving
holiday. It will certainly take some
time before the scientific, economic and
political communities have a clear
picture of the significance of the
appearance of the new variant.
Initially, reactions have been
relatively
strong, with commodity prices and stock
market prices turning a deep red. In
the near future, it must first be
determined whether the current
vaccinations
will be sufficiently effective and to
what extent new restrictions will again
affect economic life. In Germany and
Central Europe, the considerable
increase
in the number of infections is enough at
the moment to raise major concerns for
the coming months. The week actually
began with a much more positive mood.
More
activity in the past weeks and quite
extensive sales had improved the
situation
somewhat and one could conclude that
prices had found a temporary bottom for
the time being. Whether this thesis can
be maintained in the coming weeks will
be shown by further
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decisions. At the moment, however,
one has to have
considerably greater concerns again. In
principle, we are back where we were
before. New outbreaks of the pandemic
and further
increasing numbers of infections are to
be expected for the time being, and
this could lead to closures and possible
interruptions of supply chains again.
The consequences are well known. Last
week's sales were not particularly
extensive. On the one hand, this was due
to a certain reluctance on the part of
customers, but certainly also because we
were not able to offer large
availabilities for the next few weeks.
The Christmas holidays and the
interruption
of shipping to Asia due to the Chinese
New Year make planning and transport
possibilities a problem again. Until the
beginning of January it is hardly
possible to ship goods because they
would arrive in China within the holiday
period and getting available shipping
space for the period immediately
afterwards is just as difficult as
before, then of course the interruption
affects all shipments to China and
everyone is equally trying to get cargo
space immediately afterwards. Be that as
it may, the odd sale was possible
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and
interest was again essentially
focused on female goods and
occasionally for lighter male goods.
Prices changed very little and only
the US dollar,
which had strengthened considerably
in the meantime, had a positive
effect on
prices.
The
Kill: Slaughterings
remained at a stable and
increased level. Interest in beef
remains very good and here the
poultry flu
probably also plays a role. Some
consumers may already be opting for
beef for
Christmas when traditional poultry
may not be available for the
holidays. If
restaurants are closed again, this
will of course have a negative
impact on
meat production, but if this is not
the case, we expect little change in
volumes between now and Christmas.
What
do we expect:
After
today, it would not be very serious
to make any forecasts for the near
future. In all likelihood, most will
wait
for the next weeks before making any
longer-term decisions. However, as
long
as production remains open, this
will not affect purchases of goods
for the
current programmes in Europe for the
time being. Asia is likely to be
more sensible and more in the
position to take their usual
wait-and-see attitude also
considering their recent purchases.
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