Page 298 of articles about markets-economics

British pig farmers are holding a rally opposite Downing Street, to highlight their plight to MPs and the public.

Transports of Danish pigs ready for slaughtering at foreign slaughterhouses decreased by 1/3 in 2010. New figures from the Danish Council for Agriculture & Food show that transports out of Denmark decreased by 800.000 compared to 1.1 million pigs the previous year.

Hog prices are on pace for record highs in 2011 amid tight animal inventories and robust exports, but pork producers face volatile grain and animal prices that likely will keep expansion plans in check, U.S. Department of Agriculture livestock analyst Shayle Shagam said.

As of January 1, 2011, inventories of hogs were up slightly on a year-over-year basis. Hog producers reported 11.9 million hogs, up 0.6% and the first increase on a year-over-year basis since April 1, 2006.

Throughout 2010 the consumption of pork in Uruguay increased by 4,6%, fixing itself at 9 kg per inhabitant, although this is still below the record reached in 2007 (9,6 kg).

South Korea will nearly double the volume of tariff-free pork it will allow into the country to 110,000 tonnes as a response to the FMD outbreak that has crippled domestic production.

USDA report “Agricultural Projections to 2020” projects, that the price pressure on the livestock sector will lead to declines in production for both the red meat and poultry through 2012.

Throughout 2010 the exportation of pig meat from the EU reached 685.319 tons, which represents a 12.5% increase when compared with 2009 exports. A 182% increase of exports to Belarus stands out, as well as a 20% increase in exports to Japan. The main destinations of European pig meat are Russia with 30.1% of the total exported (809.148 tons), Hong Kong with 15,7% of the total, and Japan and china with 8,3% and 7,9% of the total.

The European Commission has suspended the emergency storage aid it has offered to pigmeat producers since late January.

Member States endorsed yesterday a Commission proposal that shall harmonise the implementation of the zero tolerance policy on non-authorised genetically modified (GM) material in feed. The adopted measure defines the lowest level of GM presence (LLP) that is considered by the EU GMO Reference Laboratory when validating detection methods (it is set at 0.1%).

EU agriculture ministers threw their weight behind calls for mandatory origin labelling of pork, lamb and poultry, with milk and dairy products to follow later on.

December statistics released by USDA and compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) confirm that pork export value posted the second-best year on record at $4.78 billion, falling just 2 percent short of the 2008 high and besting 2009 by more than 10 percent. Total volume was 1.918 million metric tons – an increase of 3 percent over the previous year.

EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht, today welcomed the European Parliament's support for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the European Union (EU) and South Korea. An overwhelming majority of MEPs voted for the deal (465 MEPs in favour) meaning that from 1st July 2011 businesses from both sides will be able to trade more freely and easily than ever before. This is the first time that the European Parliament has endorsed a trade agreement and adopted accompanying trade legislation under the Lisbon Treaty procedures.