Page 255 of articles about markets-economics

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.