Page 311 of articles about markets-economics

Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Dr Christopher Tufton is hopeful that a new concessionary loan programme for pig farmers will over time help to reverse a projected "slight dip" in pork production this year.

South Korea will seek to resume exports of pork as the country has been declared free of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD).

Malaysia will enforce its Animal Feeds Act 2009 next year. The Act is aimed at ensuring quality and contamination-free animal feeds.

The European Commission has adopted a draft decision on further liberalisation bilateral trade in agricultural products between the EU and Norway. It now passes to the Council and the European Parliament for approval.

Experts from more than 75 FAO Member States agreed today that while there were no grounds for complacency, there was no indication of an impending world food crisis. They proposed exploring new measures to check food price volatility and manage associated risks.

The Polish delegation has informed the Council on the consequences of the price increase of cereals on animal production, in particular pig production. Poland would like the Commission to take actions such as selling cereals from intervention stocks and increasing intervention prices in the framework of the Single Common Market Organisation regulation.

Thailand’s Department of Internal Trade or DIT has ordered pork retailers to reduce the retail price of pork to THB 105- 110/kg (USD 3.42- 3.58) from THB 110-115/kg (USD 3.58- 3.75).

U.S. inventory of all hogs and pigs on September 1, 2010 was 65.0 million head. This was down 3 percent from September 1, 2009 but up 1 percent from June 1, 2010.

Prices farmers received for their commodities fell 8.2% in June from the same month a year earlier, as the declining crops index offset gains in the livestock and animal products index.

As a whole, media attention to animal welfare has significant, negative effects on U.S. meat demand, according to a new analysis by Kansas State University. The study’s results are based on an extensive search of top U.S. newspapers and magazines used to develop indices reflecting public information on animal welfare that U.S. consumers received from 1982 to 2008.

According to information published by the Mexican Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fishing, and Food (SAGARPA), the exports of pork meat to South Korea increased by 107% during 2009, with respect to the year before.

The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of Keystone Foods Intermediate LLC of the US by Marfrig Alimentos S.A. of Brazil. Both companies are suppliers of meat products.

Hog production for 2011 is forecast at 27.4 million head, down 2.1 percent compared to the estimated 28 million head in 2010 which was down 4.4 percent compared to 2009. Slaughter is forecast at 20.8 million hogs in 2011, down 2.1 percent from 2010. A lower pig crop in 2010 has resulted in lower slaughter numbers. Continued lower hog exports translated into more domestic slaughter, estimated at 21.25 million head in 2010. Mirroring reduced slaughter in Canada, pork production is forecast at 1.725 MMT for 2011, or a further decline of 1.4 percent from the 1.75 MMT estimated for 2010.