The meat industry in Germany wants to push through higher prices due to increased costs for energy, raw materials and logistics.

The producer Westfleisch, for example, has been demanding an "energy surcharge" of 5.8 cents per kilogram for pork and 6.9 cents per kilogram for beef since Monday.

Customers in the supermarkets should soon notice this too.

Stefanie Diemand

Editor in Business.

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Jonas Jansen

Business correspondent in Düsseldorf.

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“The availability will also be given in the future.

But at a different price level," said Hubert Kelliger, Westfleisch's sales manager on Monday.

The meat producers are in "intensive talks" with the trade, and unlike the usual annual talks, the agreements would take place at shorter intervals given the continued uncertainty caused by the war in Ukraine.

“Every supplier needs rapid cost recovery.

The old rituals, we make an appointment in three weeks, that just doesn't work," said Kelliger.

calls for price increases

Companies such as Westfleisch and Tönnies have already sent letters to their customers in the past few days in which they justify their call for price increases.

The situation of the tense supply chains was dramatically aggravated by the war.

Numerous suppliers reported "force majeure", for example in the supply of gas, mustard flour and mustard seed or in the procurement of frying fats.

Breadcrumbs are scarce and animal feed costs have exploded, according to a letter from Tönnies to customers.

The price of feed and transport has risen by a quarter, spices are 30 percent more expensive and foil for packaging is even 70 percent more expensive.

The increase in electricity prices is also hitting the industry hard, for example due to the high demand for freezer houses.

"The entire chain is becoming more expensive," said Kelliger.

This is already reflected in the price for the animals.

While the price of pigs has been at EUR 1.20 per kilogram for the past few months, which threatened the livelihood of many farmers, it climbed to EUR 1.75 per kilogram within a month.

At the same time, however, farmers have to pay more money for animal feed, so more money is not necessarily left behind.

On the other hand, the higher prices burden the buyers in the meat factories all the more.

It also hits the veggie sausage

According to Rügenwalder Mühle, the war in the Ukraine led to an "unforeseeable development in terms of raw material supply".

The company expects pig prices to continue to rise "massively".

The company's vegetarian division is also affected by the developments.

In addition to the traditional sausage products, Rügenwalder Mühle also produces meat and sausage substitutes.

Wheat, sunflowers and rapeseed oil in particular played a role here.

Although the company gets most of its wheat from Germany, shifting the demand for wheat to other markets would put the entire wheat market under pressure.

"In this respect, the crisis affects all market participants," said a spokeswoman.

The situation on the grain market is considered tense.

Agriculture plays an important role in Ukraine, especially when it comes to corn: According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Ukraine is the 5th largest producer of corn with 30.3 million tons.

Due to the high nutrient content, grain maize is considered an important animal feed.

In Germany, around half of the feed maize comes from the Ukraine to be fed to pigs, cattle or poultry.

In contrast to Tönnies, Westfleisch or Vion, Rügenwalder Mühle is not yet talking about concrete price increases, but it has to "continuously check the price situation with our trading partners".

It is not yet clear what effects the price increase in the meat industry will have on customers at the checkout: "We cannot currently reliably predict the extent to which rising costs in the preliminary stages will be passed on through the chain," said a spokesman for the Rewe Group.

In the past few days, hoarding has started again in some places for individual products such as rapeseed or soybean oil.

The dealers ask customers to generally only buy products in commercially available quantities.

"Sudden demand for individual items can lead to gaps on the shelves at certain points," the Rewe Group said on request.

But this is not a widespread phenomenon.

Sometimes there are paradoxical shortages: because dairy products are also in high demand at the moment, some farmers milk their cows longer,