Page 602 of articles about news in Swine news

Last year Spain exported 828,000 tonnes of fresh pig meat at a value of 1,632.7 Million euros. The main destinations were France (235,904 tonnes), Portugal (118,401 tonnes), Italy (98,195 tonnes) and Germany (80,380 tonnes). After these countries, the next highest Spanish sales were to Hong Kong and Russia. (Original in Spanish. Read Google translation here).

Last year, 119 cases were identified in eight different ‘non-bovine’ species in England, the latest figures from Defra show. This is more than the previous five years put together and represents a four-fold increase on 2007 when 29 cases were identified in six species. There were 30 cases identified in 2006 and 29 in 2005.

Mexico’s Secretary of Agriculture, Alberto Cárdenas Jiménez, announced a packet of eight measures to reactivate the swine sector on which 350,000 jobs directly depend and 1.7 million jobs indirectly depend throughout the country. (Original in German. Read Google translation here).

The LEI (agricultural economic research institute) was asked by the Ministry of agriculture and food (LNV) to work out how things will be in the agricultural sector in 2020. The expectation is that the Netherlands will remain a major agricultural producer, but the share of agriculture and horticulture in the Dutch economy will continue to go down.

The work group formed by representatives of the different implicated sectors (swine producers, retail distributors, the rendering industry, veterinarians) have agreed on an initial financing of 15 million swiss francs to begin in an efficient manner the castration of piglets by inhalation narcosis. (Original in French. Read Google translation here).

In a presentation to the Society for General Microbiology meeting at Harrogate International Centre March 30, Dr Heike Schmitt from the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands described how antibiotics passed from the animals in manure that was then spread on farmland. Although higher organisms, such as earthworms, would only be affected at unrealistic concentrations of antibiotics, changes in soil bacterial communities have been found repeatedly using molecular microbiological techniques.

The Sichuan Provincial Bureau of Commerce will build a reserve of pork meat to help stabilize prices following a slump in demand caused by the so-called ‘swine flu’. Wholesale prices have dropped to around CNY 10/kg (USD 1.46/kg). The bureau will accumulate a minimum of seven days supply calculated at 100g per person per day for the urban population of the province. Hunan has followed suit.

International experts on Foot-and-Mouth disease (FMD) have agreed on a plan to control the infection in Western Eurasia and stop it spreading west to Europe and North Africa, following a serious epidemic in several Middle Eastern countries.

The output of China's feed industry in 2008 reached 137 million tonnes, an increase of 8.51 percent year-on-year. Among them, compound feed achieved 105.90 million tonnes, up 13.64 percent year-on-year; concentrated feed made 25.31 million tonnes, an increase of 1.58 percent year-on-year; additive premix feed contributed 5.46 million tonnes, an increase of 4.79 percent year-on-year. In 2008, China exported 6 million tonnes of feed and the total value was $3 billion; imported 2.5 million tonnes and worth $2 billion.

In the latest draft of its Agricultural Product Quality paper, the agriculture directorate says all European Union agricultural products should carry a compulsory “place of farming” label. More detail about the plan will be published on 27 May — but if the proposal becomes compulsory it will put an end to consumers being misled by the legal practice of labelling bacon and ham made from imported pigmeat as “British”.

Officials in Alberta culled 500 hogs on the pig farm where the new swine flu virus was detected, but it was not because the animals were sick, the province’s chief veterinarian said Saturday.

OIE has reported 10 new outbreaks of African Swine fever in Namibia. Part of the country is considered endemic for ASF.

Every year in the European Union, 360 million pigs, cattle, sheep and goats are killed, as are over 4 billion poultry birds and 25 million animals reared for fur. In a consultation report drafted by Janusz Wojciechowski (UEN, PL), the European Parliament approved a European Commission proposal seeking to replace the 1993 directive on the protection of animals at the time of slaughter by a new regulation to improve animal welfare while allowing more uniform application of EU rules in Member States. Amendments adopted are chiefly intended to clarify the rules so they can be more easily applied and protect animals effectively, to prevent red tape and to ensure that imports comply with EU standards.

Russian Ministry of Agriculture is going to tighten control over implementation of obligations taken by constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The duties relate to meat production increase within the frames of the state program on agriculture development, ITAR-TASS reports.

The Egyptian government decided to spend 45 million Egyptian pounds (about 8 million U.S dollars) on compensating pig farmers as the authorities are culling all pigs in the country, Al Ahram daily reported Wednesday.

There will be a reduction in pigmeat imports this year as a result of the strength of the euro and tighter pigmeat supplies on the continent.