Page 247 of articles about markets-economics in Swine news

The French Minister of Agriculture, Bruno Le Maire, met this week with representatives of producers, processors and distributors of the swine, cattle and poultry industry in order to sign a voluntary agreement between the parties with the objective of reducing the volatility of prices in the livestock sector.

Surging pork and beef costs will keep pressure on U.S. food inflation, which the Department of Agriculture says will rise 3 percent to 4 percent this year, the most since 2008.

Exports of U.S. pork in February reached 172,022 metric tons valued at $434.4 million. For the first two months of 2011, those totals are 337,160 metric tons valued at $831.3 million, increases of 11 percent in volume and 17 percent in value. Mexico, Japan, the Hong Kong/China region, South Korea and Canada remain the top five export markets.

Personnel of the Hong Kong Department of Environment and Food Safety visited Mexico with the objective of continuing the negotiations to open the Hong King market to the exportation of poultry, pork and beef, as well as sheep and horse meat.

Canada has a long history of pork exports. The industry is served by a mature and committed export infrastructure, which includes trading houses, transportation and many other service components. Pork is a major Canadian agri-food export. Export markets account for over 50% of the Canadian hog production, which totaled 28,2 million hogs in 2008.

European pork deadweight prices are up 6% in February 2011 against February 2010 according to Eurostat.

Last week a meeting between MARM and Spanish swine sector representatives was held in order to analyze the evolution of production, costs, and foreign commerce.

According to declarations made by Nikolai Vlasov, of the Federal Veterinary and Plant Watch Service (Rosselkhoznadzor), they will allocate between 10 and 12 billion rubles to the state program for the eradication of African swine fever.

The data presented at the last meeting of the EU Commission’s Management Committee put EU pork exportations during the months of January and February of 2011 at 444.138 tons, which indicates a 29,6% increase compared with the same period last year.

China may boost international soybean purchases 33% to 66.9 million metric tons by 2014, a 16.6 million-ton increase, due to doubled meat consumption — particularly pork — established over the last two decades.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is forecasting about a 7 percent increase in pork exports for the first quarter of 2011 and more than a 10 percent increase for the year.

Pork production in India is limited, representing only 7% of the country’s animal protein sources. Production is concentrated mainly in the northeastern corner of the country and consists primarily of backyard and informal sector producers.

Teagasc has outlined the developments required for each of the major farming enterprises and the food sector over the next seven years to 2018. The nine Teagasc Road Maps covering dairy, suckler beef, pigs, sheep, tillage, forestry, horticulture, food and the environment, summarize the expected changes in the shape and size of the individual sectors in the context of the main market and policy issues facing Irish producers in each enterprise.

MEPs from the Environment Committee voted to allow EU countries to ban or restrict the use of GMOs (genetically modified organisms) on environmental grounds, giving them better legal protection in the event of challenges from trading partners opposed to a ban. "Our proposal offers states a solid, legal basis," said French Liberal Corinne Lepage, Parliament's draftswoman for the rules.

Throughout 2010 the number of pigs slaughtered in commercial slaughterhouses reached 5,577,579 animals, which represents a slight increase of approximately 0.7% with respect to the year before, during which a total of de 5,537,389 animals were slaughtered.

Throughout the month of March, Brazilian pork exportations decreased by 11,60% with respect to the same month last year, going from 50,111 tons to 44,299 tons. In terms of value, the decrease was 1.70%, going from 119.50 million dollars in March 2010 to 117.47 million in March of this year.