European Hog News:

[Mustang Sally Farm]

Friday, January 06, 2012
Millions of Piglets' Lives Can be Saved
DENMARK - Research results regarding feeding are being applied directly in the sow barn with the result that piglets are given a better chance of survival. This means better finances for the farmer, improved welfare for the animals and better conditions for the climate and environment.


In Denmark almost every fourth piglet dies either during the farrowing process or within a few hours or days after its birth. The good news is that many of these young lives can be saved by applying research results from Aarhus University in the feeding of pregnant and lactating sows.

This is exactly what a new project led by the feed company DLG is focusing on. The project has been granted DKK 4.5 mill. by the Ministry of Agriculture’s Green Development and Demonstration Programme (GUDP).



Optimized sow feeding can help increase piglet survival rates. Scientists from Aarhus University are collaborating with the industry to apply research results directly in the pigpen. [Photo: Janne Hansen]
The project aims at optimizing sow feeding in the transition period comprising the last part of gestation and the first part of lactation. The goal is to reduce piglet mortality, minimize nutrient surplus and reduce the impact on the environment.

In the course of the project DLG will develop a new sow feeding concept that builds on knowledge created by scientists from Aarhus University. Thereafter, the Pig Research Centre will demonstrate the effect of the concept and generate new recommendations for advisors and farmers.

Research-based feeding on the farm
In the first part of the project the scientists from Aarhus University will create more knowledge about how the sow’s production of colostrum and milk is improved by the new feed programme for the transition period from the last part of the sow’s gestation to the first part of her lactation. This knowledge will be used by DLG to compose new nutrient packages and transition feeds so that they can act together with the scientists’ new feeding strategy to provide the sows with an optimal nutrient supply.

"In Denmark and other countries sow feeding is based on what is practically viable for the feed industry and the farmer. Sow feeding is not based on what is optimal for the sow. This can have unfortunate consequences – particularly in the transition phase from gestation to lactation," said senior scientist Peter Kappel Theil from Aarhus University.

Typically, the sow will switch from gestation feed to lactation feed about one week before farrowing. She will thus be fed a lactation feed in the last part of her gestation, in the early part of her lactation and when her lactation is at its peak. The feed’s composition matches the sow’s requirements at the peak of lactation but not the other periods.

The first two days of a piglet’s life are the most critical and it is during this time period that mortality is at its highest. A high colostrum production is an important prerequisite for keeping the newborn piglet alive. The sow produces most of her colostrum in the week prior to farrowing which is exactly the same period in which she has to adjust to lactation feed.

The all-important fatty acids
If the sow is to satisfy her piglets’ interests as well as possible, then the feeding of her at the end of her gestation and the beginning of her lactation must be changed markedly.

In a recent study the scientists found that short-chained fatty acids increase sow colostrum production. These fatty acids originate from bacterial fibre metabolism in the sow’s caecum and large intestine. When the sow is subjected to a feed change it affects the bacterial metabolism. In addition, lactation feed contains less fibre than gestation feed. Both these factors affect colostrum production negatively.

"The reduced fibre content can also easily lead to constipation, which in turn can lead to farrowing difficulties," said Dr Theil.

The fibre content is but one of the factors the scientists will investigate in the new project. Earlier studies at Aarhus University have also shown that feed fatty acid content and composition affect colostrum production and that the feed dose is also an important factor.

[Mustang Sally Farm]

Tuesday, January 10, 2012
EU Pig Prices: Markets Strongly Uncertain
EU - This current week, the slaughter companies are in the position to have clear price reductions being enforced on almost all European markets.
 

With nine cents in Germany and eight cents in the Netherlands these countries report the most important price reductions. Thursday last week already, even before the prices were announced by the producers’ association, VION had corrected their price by 10 cents downward, thus exerting massive pressure on the market.

As a result, stronger pressure was exerted on other neighbouring countries of Germany, such as Austria and Belgium where a six cents’ minus was noted. A comparably small price reduction (minus four cents) was reported from Denmark. So, Denmark goes on benefitting from the stable meat business towards Great Britain and Asia, in particular towards Japan and China.

Trend for the German market:
The prices above all for ham and rolled fillet of ham have come under severe pressure. The business is going very slowly, which is typical for this time of year. The prices for neck, shoulder and belly went down less, because those pieces on the one hand are either stored for the next barbecue season and, on the other hand, are supported by exports to Asia and South Korea in particular. From today’s point of view, an assessment can hardly be made on whether or not the demand for pork at strongly reduced costs will get brisker and the producer prices can be stabilised this way.

[Mustang Sally Farm]

Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Where Does our Pork Come From?
UK - More and more people are thinking about where their pork comes from after they were challenged by the Pork Promise campaign run by BPEX.
 

The campaign, which was launched in autumn 2011, used outdoor poster, print and online advertisements, and engaging social media activity to reach consumers and highlight the reasons to choose quality assured pork.

Latest research has shown increased awareness of Red Tractor pork with consumers suggesting they are actively motivated to look for the logo when shopping, as well as putting Love Pork in the top ten Facebook pages with the highest consumer engagement rate.

BPEX Head of Marketing Chris Lamb, said: “Consumer response to the advertising message has been positive. There are high levels of awareness, understanding and likeability of the adverts, which included thought-provoking headlines such as ‘Pork not Porkies’ and ‘Grill it before you buy it’.

“Eight out of ten consumers said the advertising made them think where their pork comes from, 77 per cent think Red Tractor pork has higher standards than other pork and over half are more likely to look actively for the Red Tractor.

Chris said the social media element of the BPEX campaign had been a tremendous success.

He said: “Love Pork has grown its consumer base on Facebook to well over 70,000 ‘likes’ and has an engagement rate equalling those achieved by some of the UK’s biggest consumer brands active on Facebook, including Sony UK and Walkers.”

While the campaign will continue throughout 2012, with further advertising executions public affairs, consumer PR and online activity, BPEX is also calling on the supply chain to back the Pork Promise on the Love Pork website and Facebook page and raise awareness of the campaign amongst their customers.

Given the welfare legislation changes that will come into effect throughout the rest of the EU on 1 January 2013, with the introduction of the partial ban on sow stalls, BPEX is urging retailers to put in place as soon as possible the dedicated supply chain arrangements that will ensure the guaranteed supply of Red Tractor and/or EU-compliant pork and pork products.

[Mustang Sally Farm]

Tuesday, January 17, 2012
EU Pig Prices: Pig Prices Reach Bottom
EU - It seems that the bottom has been reached on the EU markets with regard to pig prices.
 

The quotations in France, Denmark and Spain went down by 2 to 3 cents, but after last week’s 9 cents’ reduction of the German leading quotation, this seems to be quite a moderate price reduction. Apart from the unchanged German quotation, no price changes were reported from many other countries such as Austria and Italy.

So it looks quite questionable a matter whether or not the market assessments, which were made by some of the major German slaughter companies over past days, were justified. It rather seems to be a kind of strategy pursued by the German companies – and VION in particular – that the prices are already announced in writing to the suppliers on Thursday although valid for the next week only. With prices falling far behind the real demand-supply ratio on the live-animals’ market, fear is obviously meant to be fuelled of house prices.

Furthermore, pressure seems to be intended to be exerted on those who register prices. Or should it be possible that the pricing system, which is widely accepted by producers, marketers and slaughter companies all over Germany, is intended to be pushed ad absurdum? What’s for sure is that all parties involved are very much rattled by such negative market assessments. This also goes for the buyers of pork. A negative price spiral for the whole value chain would be the consequence.

Trend for the German market: Currently, the quantities of pigs mature for slaughter on offer are rather below average and are constantly in demand. According to what market participants report, the demand on the part of the slaughter companies is currently exceeding the offer. So, for the week ahead stable quotations are the least thing expected.

[Mustang Sally Farm]

Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Meat Industry Hits Back over Cancer and Meat Claims
UK - The British pig industry has hit back following the publication in the British Journal of Cancer by researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm suggesting eating two rashers of bacon a day can increase the risk of pancreatic cancer by 19 per cent.


A statement from the British Pig Executive, BPEX, said: "There is no evidence that a moderate intake of lean red meat, when consumed as part of a healthy balanced diet, has any negative health effects.

"It is over-simplistic and misleading to link a single food or category of food to a specific disease such as cancer. Cancer like other chronic diseases is multi-factorial and a wide range of diet and lifestyle factors are thought to contribute.

"One of the key limitations of these types of studies is that processed meat is typically poorly defined. As a category it encompasses a wide range of products and patterns of consumption differ around the world.

"Average consumption of bacon in this country is well below the amount mentioned in the report so the vast majority of people would have nothing to worry about."

In a report on the website Sense about Science, Nigel Hawkes, Director of Straight Statistics says: “According to the researchers the risk of developing pancreatic cancer is quite small, one in 77 for men and one in 79 for women. Office of National Statistics mortality figures don't quite agree. They show 7,146 people dying of pancreatic cancer in 2009, out of a total of 489,097 deaths, i.e. one in 68.

"If eating one less sausage a day reduced the risks by 19 per cent, as the paper suggests, the risk of dying of pancreatic cancer would be reduced to one in 84. The deaths saved per year would be 1,357. If we take the population of the UK to be 60 million, and assume 50 million eat sausages (subtracting infants and vegetarians) then more than 36,000 people would have to make this dietary change to save one death per year.”

The report adds: "In our Making Sense of Statistics guide writer and broadcaster Michael Blastland said: 'Why do reports prefer to talk about relative percentage risks without mentioning the absolute risk? The suspicion must be that this allows the use of ‘bigger numbers’: 20 per cent is big enough to be a scare, an absolute change of one per cent or even 1 person in every 100, is less disturbing'.”

[Mustang Sally Farm]

Thursday, January 19, 2012
Animal Protein Feed for Fish Only, Says FEFAC
EU - Last year, the European Commission put forward a proposal to lift the 11 year old feed ban for non-ruminant processed animal proteins (PAPs) to non-ruminant farm animals on scientific and sustainability grounds.


The European Feed Manufacturers' Federation (FEFAC) says that that the proposed zero-tolerance for intra-species recycling would make the use of non-ruminant PAPs practically impossible in the feed chain outside aquafeed production.

The European Commission presented its TSE Roadmap II proposals in July 2010, in which they concluded that the fight against the BSE disease has been successful thanks to the stringent public health measures taken at EU level, among which the total feed ban for the feeding of processed animal proteins to food producing animals introduced in 2001.

On the basis of this conclusion, the European Commission has tabled a draft proposal in 2011 foreseeing a lifting of the feed ban measure for the feeding of non-ruminant processed animal proteins to pigs, poultry and fish. In other words, the European Commission intends to reauthorise the feeding of:

poultry meal to pigs;
pigmeal to poultry;
pig and poultry meals to farmed fish under strict conditions.
The main control requirements linked to this proposal therefore are the single species dedication of the whole production chain from slaughterhouse to farm level and the “zero-tolerance” requirement based on analytical controls using the official microscopic method and the new PCR test whose main role is to identify the species-specific animal proteins in feed. Ruminant and the feeding of processed animal proteins to ruminant animals remain banned.

FEFAC members are supporting the reauthorisation of non-ruminant as a valuable protein source, under practical conditions, based on the positive opinions of EFSA on the safety of and their positive contribution to improve sustainability of EU livestock production.

FEFAC members are requesting the setting of a practical tolerance for in non-target monogastric feeds, in order to allow the use of these products in monogastric feed mills, producing feed for poultry and pigs on the same production site.

FEFAC members therefore recommend implementing a step-wise approach by limiting the reauthorisation of non-ruminant processed animal proteins for use in fishfeed only, until the EU has validated a quantification method.

The EU fishfeed sector is the only sector whose production lines are fully dedicated. In line with the EU policy objectives for the sustainable development of EU Aquaculture, EU fishfeed producers could use non-ruminant processed animal proteins to replace fishmeal.

[Mustang Sally Farm]

Friday, January 20, 2012
Pork Turning Up the Volume
UK - Last year was good for fresh and frozen pork as volume sales were 2.2 per cent up on the year – the only meat to show an increase.
 

Bacon too was riding high with a 3.5 per cent increase year-on-year and sausages were in the same league, up by 3.1 per cent.

BPEX Head of Marketing Chris Lamb said: "People are switching to pork as they continue to recognise that it is extremely good value for money, versatile, convenient, for money, healthy and nutritious."

[Mustang Sally Farm]

Tuesday, January 24, 2012
EU Pig Prices: Scarce Supply Makes Prices Go Up
EU - In line with the German quotation, which went up by 9 cents on Friday, the prices in other EU member countries also increased.
 

In the Netherlands and in Austria, the market is only narrowly supplied, and thus the slaughter companies’ demand cannot be covered sufficiently. Consequentially, the prices went up by 9 cents in the Netherlands and by 8 cents in Austria. In Belgium too, a clear mark-up of plus 7 cents could be pushed through. The prices in Denmark did not go up this week, but from there as well decreasing supply is reported about. In France and Spain, the prices also remained on last week’s level.

As a result of the German and Dutch price increases, the gaps between the individual European quotations narrowed considerably this week. Germany is now leading the ranking list of the five most important pig producers in Europe, closely followed by Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands and France.

Trend for the German market: At present, all that happens is strongly influenced by the live-animals’ market given its scarce supply. In the face of the steady demand for pigs mature for slaughter, the slaughter companies’ statement cannot be understood that the meat business were very unsatisfactory. As a result of the scarce supply, the slaughter companies should soon be able to pass on the increased start-up costs to the next level in the process. At the beginning of the week, the pigs are well demanded even at the new market price and too little quantities are available. Thus, further price increases are expected to be the consequence.

Week D NL DK B F PL CZ IT ESP AUT GB SWE IR
Week 48 1.576 € 1.513 € 1.614 € 1.556 € 1.578 € 1.502 € 1.584 € 1.873 € 1.571 € 1.479 € 1.658 € 1.226 € 1.411 €
Week 49 1.576 € 1.522 € 1.615 € 1.556 € 1.555 € 1.531 € 1.677 € 1.842 € 1.565 € 1.479 € 1.678 € 1.249 € 1.411 €
Week 50 1.576 € 1.522 € 1.615 € 1.556 € 1.567 € 1.582 € 1.651 € 1.829 € 1.565 € 1.479 € 1.703 € 1.153 € 1.411 €
Week 51 1.576 € 1.522 € 1.561 € 1.544 € 1.539 € 1.632 € 1.677 € 1.829 € 1.546 € 1.479 € 1.717 € 1.151 € 1.411 €
Week 52 1.496 € 1.446 € 1.534 € 1.482 € 1.499 € 1.613 € 1.674 € 1.778 € 1.527 € 1.417 € 1.697 € 1.107 € 1.411 €
Week 01 1.496 € 1.446 € 1.534 € 1.482 € 1.473 € 1.568 € 1.622 €   1.502 € 1.396 € 1.658 € 1.114 € 1.411 €
Week 02 1.406 € 1.369 € 1.493 € 1.421 € 1.465 € 1.533 € 1.589 € 1.665 € 1.493 € 1.335 € 1.630 € 1.070 € 1.411 €
Week 03 1.406 € 1.369 € 1.466 € 1.408 € 1.440 € 1.469 €   1.665 € 1.470 € 1.335 € 1.570 € 1.064 € 1.411 €
Week 04 1.496 € 1.455 € 1.466 € 1.482 € 1.440 €     1.551 € 1.470 € 1.417 € 1.523 € 1.077 € 1.411 €




Explanation
1corrected quotation: The official Quotations of the different countries are corrected, so that each quotation has the same base (conditions).
base: 56 per cent lean meat; farm-gate-price; 79 per cent killing out percentage, without value-added-tax (VAT)

[Mustang Sally Farm]

Monday, January 30, 2012
Danish Pig Sector Internationally Competitive
DENMARK - The Danish pig industry is in many respects competitive with foreign countries, but the historic gap is eaten up by distorting terms, according to a new analysis of the entire pig sector's competitiveness.


Exports of pork are one of Denmark's main exports and has had, for many years, a major impact on the country's total export revenue.

"Denmark shows records of specialisation in the country's exports made by the OECD, the top five Danish products are from the food industry," says Leif Nielsen, Chief Economist, Business Organisation Food & Agriculture.

Danish pork has historically had a relatively large impact on its exports. Over the past year, growth has been put under pressure due to competitiveness. Countries such as Spain, Holland, and Germany have, in recent years, greatly increased their exports of pork.

Competitors' success is due to favourable conditions for both primary producers and processors. High taxes, environmental costs and administrative burdens have further deteriorated the conditions in an otherwise strong Danish industry.

"The Danish slaughterhouses have managed to develop exports to new markets such as China. This is seen by the export of meat increasing by 24 per cent from DKK 970 million in 2009 to DKK 1.2 billion in 2010. We do not expect it to stop here, there is a potential for over DKK 2.5 billion to be exported to China by 2019," says Mr Nielsen.

[Mustang Sally Farm]

Friday, January 27, 2012
Improving AI to Improve Commercial Pig Herd
UK - Fresh work on the study of porcine semen production could go a long way to improving the commercial pig herd in the UK, writes editor in chief, Chris Harris.

Over the last 20 years, the research into boar semen production has been limited and the research that has been carried out in continental Europe often has not been wholly applicable to the industry in the UK.

The continental research has naturally been tailored to the specific needs of that industry – often catering for large indoor operations.

In the UK, 40 per cent of the sows are served outdoors under a wide range of environmental conditions.

In Europe, particularly in the Netherlands, many of the studs are close to the major pig production centres.

However, in the UK, according to Sue Corning, the general manager of PIC UK, the focus on a high level of health and biosecurity means that the majority of the studs are based remotely from the pig population concentrations. This, in turn, means that when breeding operations are being served through artificial insemination, there are increased travelling times for the semen batches.

The research and development that is being carried out by pig breeding company, PIC, at its Genetic Transfer Centre in Bedfordshire in the UK aims to ease the use of artificial insemination in the commercial environment.

The use of AI on the farm has several key areas where it can also improve the commercial practices and the commercial viability of the pig farm through:

Improved accuracy of the genetic improvement programme
Faster genetic dissemination
Access to top indexed boars at commercial level
Known semen quality
Improved health control supporting Closed Herd Semen only programmes
Supporting Batch Farrowing Programmes
Flexibility to meet varying market requirements.


Sue Corning, general manager of PIC UK.Ms Corning said that AI helps to speed up the commercial use of genetics by ensuring a swift transfer of the boar genetic nucleus down to the commercial level and while improvements in traits such as robustness are being developed in the genetic nucleus they can also be transferred straight to the farm.

There is also an opportunity to use a wider range of products through AI bringing clear benefits.

In pig production across Europe, the use of AI is commonplace with 95 per cent of production in the Netherlands being through AI and 97 per cent in Denmark.

The Dutch industry has around 920,000 with farm sizes on average 400 sows per farm and 4.5 million AI doses issued per year.

However, in the UK, the uptake is just 75 per cent and over the last few years, the UK has been fairly static in its use of AI.

According to Ms Corning, the average farrowing rate in the UK is 75.79 per cent while the top farrowing rate is around 95 per cent. If this gap between the average and the top can be closed, it could be worth up to £100 per sow to the farmer and a total of £40 million to the industry as a whole.

The new PIC R&D centre in the UK acts as a staging post between the studs and the farms. It acts to work to improve on-farm reproductive performance to retain and improve the competitiveness of UK pig producers.

The centre with its state of the art technology is continually receiving samples from its boar stud units around the UK. In all, 650 boars are tested every four weeks and PIC has set a target that if there are more than 30 per cent abnormalities in each ejaculate then the boar is withdrawn from commercial sales. The boar is then tested on a weekly basis and if the abnormalities do not improve, the boar is taken out of the system completely.

 



The Hamilton Thorn – IVOS equipmentThe latest equipment with a Hamilton Thorn – IVOS – an integrated visual optics system for sperm analysis using strobed illumination to visualise sperm motion showing results for sperm which are motile, progressively motile and static, a fluorescence microscope that allows a sample to be illuminated with a light of a specific wavelength, which fluorophores (stains previously attached to the sperm) will absorb, then emit light at a longer wavelength (fluorescence allowing the determination of live and dead sperm cells, the morphology of live sperm and capacitation status and a NucleoCounter SP-100, which measures sperm cell concentration and viability in raw and diluted semen samples, allows the research team to find and select the strongest and best boars from the stud).

 



Fluorescence microscopeWhile at the moment, the research is looking at the motility and health of the stud samples, work at the laboratory will focus on projects directly relevant to the UK pig industry with the overall objective of improving reproductive performance on farm.

Work areas, over time, are likely to include: the effect of temperature on semen production and viability including the effect of temperature in boar accommodation, in drop-off boxes and semen storage units; the effect of UV exposure on semen quality; improved monitoring of morphology; more detailed review of factors which affect morphology, and comparisons of extenders used as part of the semen production process.

The centre is also a training centre for people on the studs and also for farms where the flat­pack semen batches are dispatched.

It also acts as the hub for dispensing the flat­pack AI packs to about 130 farms a week from the Channel Islands to the Orkney Islands.


Chris Harris, Editor-in-Chief

[Mustang Sally Farm]

Tuesday, January 31, 2012
EU Pig Prices: Scarcity Continues to Raise Prices
EU - Like last week, this week too sees that the supply of slaughter pigs available on the European markets is insufficient for the most part to cover demand.
 

As a consequence, the quotations continued to go up in the majority of the European countries. In France, the producers were able to push through a price which exceeds by 6 cents the last week’s price as a result of the scarce supply.

The prices in Germany, the Netherlands and Austria developed in a synchronous way, just as they had over the past weeks. There, the prices went up by 5 cents. In Spain, a 3 cents’ price increase could be realised. Germany now has seized the top position within the European price structure, closely followed by Belgium and the Netherlands.

The price level currently prevailing is a quite unusual one to be documented in the month of January. Such prices were lastly quoted in 2001, when the market was strongly characterised by the BSE crisis. The supply getting scarcer in Europe must well be attributed to the bad economic situation the piglet producers had to cope with over the past two years.

The decisive impetus given to the market is based on booming exports to non-EU countries and to Russia and the Asian countries in particular. From the producers’ point of view the price level prevailing currently is a very welcome one. Yet, the producers find it long overdue for covering the considerably increased costs in pig production.

Trend for the German market: The atmosphere proves to be friendly on the German market. Even at the new prices, the pigs mature for slaughter are well in demand. In view of the scarce market supply, the increased prices should as well be enforceable in trade and industry. On top of that, this week’s icy temperatures will most probably be resulting in a decreasing quantity of supply. Therefore, the prices are expected to remain steady at least.

[Mustang Sally Farm]

Thursday, February 02, 2012
British Pork Production Highest Since 2002
UK - Last year, United Kingdom pig slaughterings were their highest since 2002, at 9.8m head — up six per cent on the previous year.

The key driver was increased productivity, which is being seen across much of the European herd, and for which the PCV2 vaccines can claim some of the credit.

Scotland recorded the strongest growth, up 12 per cent on the previous year. Northern Ireland was up five percent.

Official figures no longer cover sow slaughterings, but Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board estimates 250,000 culls were killed during 2011, 13 per cent more than in 2010.

[Mustang Sally Farm]

Monday, February 06, 2012
European Pig Prices Starting to Fall
GLOBAL - Following the end of the dioxin crisis in Germany at the end of January 2011, the EU cull sow market gradually recovered and prices increased steadily through most of the year.
 

Prices were in general slightly higher than year earlier levels, particularly in Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands.

After reaching a peak in early December, prices have started to fall back.

After several years of intense cow culling, the Brazilian beef industry is still facing lower availability of cattle for slaughter, according to the AHDB European Market Survey.

The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) show cattle slaughterings in the year to September were almost three per cent down on 2010 at 21.5 million head. Production fell by five per cent year on year to five million tonnes indicating a marked fall in carcase weights.

Increased domestic demand and hence firm beef prices, plus a strong real, put pressure on export levels in 2011. Exports of fresh and frozen beef declined 14 per cent year on year.

[Mustang Sally Farm]

Thursday, February 09, 2012
2011 Pork Imports Higher Than a Year Ago
UK - Imports of fresh and frozen pork from January to November 2011 were three per cent higher compared to the same months of 2010.
 

According to BPEX's UK Pig Meat Market Update, improvement in herd productivity was the main driver that led to an increase of 6 per cent in clean pig slaughterings during 2011. This is the highest level recorded in the last nine years.

Pigs were marketed earlier due to high feed costs. This led to little change in the average carcase weight of clean pigs. However, this resulted in a temporary cutoff in the steady upward trend of previous years.

During the month of December, producers tend to market pigs before the holiday season, and as a result, clean pig carcase weights tend to decline. The December 2011 reduction was lower than usual, so the average carcase weight was higher compared to December 2010.

UK imports of fresh and frozen pork during November 2011 was one per cent higher than in November 2010. The value of imports rose by as much as 14 per cent as prices were significantly higher.

Imports of fresh and frozen pork during the first eleven months of 2011 also rose by 3 per cent compared to the same months of 2010. The growth was driven by imports from Denmark, Germany and France. However, the Netherlands and Belgium shipped substantially lower volumes in comparison.

Exports of fresh and frozen pork from the UK during November 2011 was 18 per cent lower compared to the same month the previous year. Hong Kong was the country's largest market, taking in 22 per cent of pork exports. On the other hand, exports to EU countries dropped by more than 30 per cent compared to a year earlier.

[Mustang Sally Farm]

Monday, February 13, 2012
Spanish and European Hog Market
EU - Hog live prices have been going down over the last weeks of December and most of January, which is usual for this time of the year, writes Javier Santamartina from Sales & Service at Genesus Spain, Italy and Portugal.
 

Traditionally hog prices in Spain push up a little higher around 6th to 7th week of the year. However in 2011 the prices started to increase a little bit before these weeks. This year the prices have been steady which is not normal because of higher pork available, but packing plants are freezing pork and store it up for the months ahead when the price will be higher.

Pork primal cuts are receiving a lot of pressure on decreasing value. Also Spaniards are having a hard time selling hams for this time of the year. The good news is that the amount of market hogs is lower helping prices.

In Italy, for example, the breakeven will arrive later for the national swine industry, meanwhile in other European countries with more activity on international markets, like Denmark price goes much better. In fact, just last week Denmark reinitiated selling pork to Russia.

Korea keeps the demand of belly at its maximum point and it is expected that China will continue pushing for more pork over the next months. There are concerns in Europe about how to satisfy demand from countries like Korea or China. Is USA, Brazil or EU prepared for even a higher demand? On the other hand the exchange rate between Euro and American Dollar is helping Europeans to go a little further in international markets. But also a weaker Euro makes cost of production even higher here in Europe because grains (soybean specially) and fuels are more expensive.

The International Monetary Fund IMF has released a new document showing no growth for Spain’s economy over the next 2 years. On top of that new environmental and animal welfare regulations are ready to take place in the country. Currently about 30 per cent to 40 per cent of pig farms meet 2013 standards.

At the beginning of 2011 a lot of clouds were on the horizon for pork producers. At the end the reality showed different results. If is fair to say it was not a brilliant year in terms of profits, neither was a nasty year. Most of people had breakeven and some made some profits.

Genesus Global Market Report
Prices for week of 30 January 2012
Country Domestic price
(own currency) US$
(per pound liveweight)
USA (Iowa-Minnesota) 86.75¢
US$/lb carcass 64.19¢
Canada (Ontario) 1.59
C$/kg carcass 57.91¢
Mexico (DF) 25.08
MXP/kg liveweight 89.83¢
Brazil (south region) 2.45
BRR/kg liveweight 64.42¢
Russia 92
RUB/kg liveweight $1.39
China 17.04
RMB/kg liveweight $1.22
Spain 1.16
€/kg liveweight 68.82¢