Page 253 of articles about markets-economics in Swine news

During the last year the average base price of the MPB (Marché du Porc Breton) for a pig was 1.146 €, which represents a decrease of 9.3%. Specialists consider this year to be unique since not only did prices fall but there was also a fall in production.

The government has announced it is to begin consulting on the creation of a body to oversee supermarkets’ relationships with suppliers.

An outbreak of FMD was reported by the Republic of Korea on Jan. 6, 2010. As such, the country is no longer considered to be free of FMD.

The results for the agri-food trade balance for December 2009 in Brazil were the best ever for December with a surplus of 3,975 million dollars.

During summer 2009, Ukraine announced new inspection requirements which put European exports of animals and animal products at risk. These requirements were scheduled to enter into force on 14 January 2010. The European Commission immediately expressed concerns on this proposed measure and held co-operative and constructive discussions with the Ukrainian authorities. Early in January 2010 Ukraine announced the cancellation of its proposed inspection requirements.

The prices for clean pigs in 2008 were on average 15% higher than in 2007. The average reference price amounted to € 1.43 per kg.

A total of 250,000 tonnes of feed wheat is expected to begin arriving in the Philippines this month until March.

Vietnam and the World Bank will join forces to improve the overall competitiveness of Vietnam’s livestock production by addressing main constraints and risks faced by household-based livestock producers.

The number of slaughterings of pigs in the Netherlands increased in 2008 by around 1.5% to reach 14.4 million animals. The export of live animals rose by a good 3%.

Vietnam’s move to increase import tariffs on major feed raw materials will raise feed and meat prices in the country.

The Manitoba Pork Marketing Cooperative is confident a new joint venture hog marketing service will ultimately lead to reduced marketing costs for producers in both Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

2008 was a rather better year for the pig sector than 2007. This applied especially to producers of clean pigs, who achieved better prices for their animals as the year progressed. The seasonal variation in prices was comparable to other years, but on a higher level. The balance between expenditure and income in the pig sector in 2008 improved to some degree thanks to the higher prices achieved for pigs; despite higher costs for piglets, feed and energy.

U.S. inventory of all hogs and pigs on December 1, 2009 was 65.8 million head. This was down 2 percent from December 1, 2008 and down 2 percent from September 1, 2009.

Pork imports this year have shown a big drop, mostly due to the weakness of the sterling against the Euro says BPEX Senior Economic Analyst Tony Fowler.

Pig imports from Thailand have pushed down prices and led to the closure of hundreds of pig farms, sector representatives said.

The European Commission authorised a Dutch scheme with a budget of €2.81 million which aims at supporting farmers who encounter difficulties as a result of the current economic crisis.