France entered its second week without the auctions that set nationwide pig prices taking place as the Brittany-based Marché du Porc Breton (MPB) wholesale pigmeat market remained closed on Monday.

Instead, MPB hosted talks chaired by agriculture minister Stéphane Le Foll, who said he would continue negotiations with meat processors Cooperl and Bigard on Tuesday.

France’s two largest buyers of pigs withdrew from MPB auctions on 10 August. As they represent 30% of the trade there, the market has remained closed since then.

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MPB said after the meeting that it would resume auctions on Tuesday, but without Cooperl or Bigard.

MPB itself accounts for 12% of France’s pigmeat trade and its prices are used as a reference point for all transactions in the country.

Uncompetitive

Cooperl and Bigard withdrew from MPB when the farmgate price there reached €1.404/kg, which had been set as a target in government-backed talks last June to cover production costs.

The two companies argue that the 10c/kg rise in the past two months results from political interference in the market and makes their products uncompetitive internationally.

“This is not a political price; this results from a joint decision to support pig farming,” Le Foll said on Monday.

He added that pigmeat trading had continued outside MPB at the prices set before auctions were suspended.