Page 233 of articles about markets-economics in Swine news

The quota for poultry imports in 2011 will drop in order to boost local production, while quotas for imports of beef and pork will remain unchanged, the head of Russia's Meat Union said Wednesday.

The resource under the temporary state aid aimed to support the farmers from the pig and poultry breeding sector will be allocated for maximum absorption of the resources. The financial resource approved under the scheme amounts to BGN 3.48 million.

Despite improvements in daily liveweight gain and pigs finished per sow, Britain still lags behind its European competition in the production stakes. The latest figures from the BPEX publication on international cost of production show Britain produced 1643kg pig meat per sow in 2009 – the lowest of all the EU countries.

International prices of most agricultural commodities have increased in recent months, some sharply. The FAO Food Price index has gained 34 points since the previous Food Outlook report in June, averaging 197 points in October, only 16 points short from its peak in June 2008. The upward movements of prices were connected with several factors, the most important of which were a worsening of the outlook for crops in key producing countries, which is likely to require large draw downs of stocks and result in tighter global supply and demand balances in 2010/11.

The High Level Forum for a Better Functioning Food Supply Chain is meeting for the first time in Brussels on Tuesday 16 November. It will adopt a work plan to boost competitiveness and to promote best contractual practices in the European food sector, extending the work of the previous High Level Group on the Competitiveness of the Agro-Food Industry to the whole supply chain. Vice President Antonio Tajani is leading this exercise together with his fellow Commissioners Michel Barnier (Internal Market and Services), John Dalli (Health and Consumer Policy) and Dacian Cioloş (Agriculture and Rural development).

Despite the Department of Agriculture’s interventions to minimize the effects of El Nino from January to September 2010, the country’s agriculture sector slowed down by 2.62 percent (%), even as the poultry, livestock and fisheries subsectors posted positive growth rates.

Confirming what food-animal producers have suspected about a proposed federal rule on buying and selling livestock and poultry, a comprehensive economic analysis of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s proposed regulation found it would be bad for farmers and ranchers, bad for consumers and bad for rural America.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is amending its regulations governing the importation of certain animals and animal products by adding the Brazilian State of Santa Catarina to the list of regions we recognize as free of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), rinderpest, swine vesicular disease (SVD), classical swine fever (CSF) and African swine fever (ASF). APHIS is also adding Santa Catarina to the list of regions that are subject to certain import restrictions on meat and meat products because of their proximity to or trading relationships with rinderpest- or FMD-affected countries.

The biggest and most important single cost for pig producers is feed; on average it accounts for almost 60% of total production costs. It is no exaggeration to state that global rises in the price of feed are the biggest threat to the sustainability of English high welfare pig production and processing.

Over nine months of 2010, Ukraine imported 268,000 tons of meat and by-products, 17% less against the same period of 2009, while export of these products increased by 57% and made up over 37,000 tons, First Deputy Head of the State Customs Service Oleksandr Dorokhovskyi said.

The Chinese government has sold its second batch this year of frozen pork from state reserves to help stabilize prices, the Ministry of Commerce said on Nov. 10.

Market mechanisms to limit price volatility and speculation in the European livestock sector should be introduced urgently, say MEPs, as farmers are suffering a major crisis, partly due to rising costs of feed material, particularly cereals, which could lead to a significant fall in EU meat production. A combination of factors, including higher production costs (fuel, fertilisers and feed), greater competition from third countries, low prices paid to farmers and the high cost of complying with EU environment, animal health , food safety and labour criteria, is putting at risk the EU livestock sector. Parliament approved on Thursday, by show of hands, a resolution listing a number of recommendations to help improve the situation.

According to the Argentine Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock and Fishing, Lorenzo Basso, the decrease in cow meat has led to an increase in the consumption of pork meat.

The invoicing and commercialized volume of pork meat will decrease in 2010 and 2011, after 2009 when consumption increased, but sales value decreased.

The investment, as well as the mergers, made during the last 10 years have led to the creation of large groups of slaughterhouses, usually multi-species, that operate in different countries and often include processing activities. Danish Crown, a witness to the continuing changes in the European slaughterhouse sector and holder of the second place title in 2009, has been situated in first place after last October’s acquisition of the German company, D&S Fleisch.

The number of piglets exported during the first trimester of this year reached 1,6 million animals. This means that 100.000 more piglets were exported than in the third trimester of last year.