Page 248 of articles about markets-economics in Swine news

Cambodia is threatened by a shortage of pork as pig farmers are leaving the business due to high input cost.

In signing the Peru – Mexico Comercial Integration Agreement, the Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fishing and Food, Francisco Mayorga Castañeda from México and his Peruvian counterpart, Rafael Quevedo Flores, agreed on the mutual importance of the agreement which will reactivate the commercial Exchange of complementary products, in a setting where the sectors small and midsized business can potentially participate and grow.

In a meeting held last Monday, April 11th in Beijing, the Chinese Minister of the Quality, Inspection and Quarantine , Zhi Shuping, informed the Brazilian Minister of Agriculture, Wagner Rossi, of the initial approval of three Brazilian meat processing plants to export pork to China. The approval comes only 5 months after the Chinese mission to Brazil to inspect 13 slaughterhouses.

The number of pigs raised in South Korea plunged due to the massive slaughter of livestock affected by nationwide outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), a report showed Thursday.

As the price of pork rises, Koreans are giving up their beloved pork belly to seek alternative cuts and sources of protein.

The Cabinet of Ministers extended the quotas of exportation of grain crops until July 1, Agrarian Policy and Food Supplies Minister Mykola Prysiazhniuk has told journalists.

The FAO Food Price Index has dropped for the first time after eight months of continuous price spikes. The Index averaged 230 points in March 2011, down 2.9 percent from its peak in February, but still 37 percent above March of last year.

Due to the occurrence of a new outbreak of ASF in Murmansk Oblast (Russia), Belarus Ministry of Agriculture has introduced a temporary ban on the import of pork from Murmansk Oblast.

The European Commission has granted clearance under the EU Merger Regulation to the acquisition by E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company ("DuPont", USA) of Danisco A/S ("Danisco", Denmark).

South Korea will reopen all 85 of its livestock markets today, almost four months after they were closed at the end of November last year when FMD surfaced.

The National Pork Producers Council praised the Obama administration for today concluding a free trade agreement with Colombia, paving the way for congressional approval of the deal later this year.

This week the arrival in China of a Brazilian mission headed by the Director of the Animal Product Inspection Department of the Department of Agriculture, Luiz Carlos Oliveira, is expected. The objective of the mission is to continue negotiations for the sale of Brazilian pork in China.

The Obama administration, hoping to prevent recalls, consumer illnesses and even deaths from contaminated meat, will unveil a proposal Tuesday to force companies to delay sending beef, pork and poultry to grocery stores while government inspectors complete tests.

With tight stocks and strong demand for both maize and soyabeans, the US spring planting has been deemed “the fight for acres” as both prices have needed to be attractive for both crops to receive planted areas to replenish stock levels in the 2011/12 season. However, prices have been much more supportive of the maize market over recent weeks and today’s report suggests that US farmers are to plant more maize for harvest 2011 much at the expense of soyabeans.

Pork production forecast is virtually unchanged despite a downward revision in the slaughter forecast. Production continues to be hindered by higher than expected prices generated a downward revision (1.3 percent) in consumption. Similarly robust prices are also expected to depress imports which are revised lower to the 2010 level.

According to USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), China is once again accepting live hogs exported from the United States. China had suspended those imports two years ago, when H1N1 influenza virus was sickening people, along with pork products.