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Swine inventory and pork production
According to National Institute of Statistics data, there were 3.7 million total hogs in 2019, down almost 10% from 4.1 million head in 2018. Breeding sows fell 10% from 280,000 in May 2018 to 250,000 in 2019. Consequently, 2019 slaughter hogs fell by 11 percent from 2018.
Pork production dropped 8% during the same timeframe, from 480,824 metric tons (MT) to 441,526 MT carcass weight. Slaughterhouse pork meat prices for December were up 52% from a year prior according to the Carcass Grading Commission.
ASF outbreaks situation
Romania’s lower swine numbers are largely due to ASF. According to the data published by the National Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Authority (NSVFSA), as of the beginning of March 2020, there were 3,210 positive cases in wild boars and 528 active ASF cases in domestic pigs, including seven on commercial farms. While ASF remains a threat to Romania’s hog and pork industries, the number of year-on-year active cases dropped by about 50 percent. In terms of distribution, ASF was detected in 37 of the 42 Romanian counties.
ASF’s trade impact
Pork meat imports rose by 9.7 percent in value terms, but only marginally in volume (1.6 percent) during the first nine months of 2019. Tight local supplies triggered an increased level of pork meat which continued to surge in the first two quarters of 2019, but the pace of imports slowed down in the third quarter because of rising EU pork prices, due to strong export demand from China. Therefore, pork meat consumption declined during the first nine months of 2019.
The number of imported piglets dropped by 16 percent during the same timeframe.
Pork meat exports fell by 65 percent during January-September 2019 in quantitative terms.
March 23, 2020/ USDA/ USA.
https://apps.fas.usda.gov/
