China to stockpile frozen pork

China will begin stockpiling frozen pork in an attempt to prop up falling meat prices, China’s Ministry of Commerce announced on May 15.

Stockpiling is planned to begin when the price per kilogram of live pigs remains at between 5.5 and 6 times the price of a kilogram of corn for four consecutive weeks. A state-owned storage facility is currently being built.

China’s pork industry is facing a glut, as the number of live pigs increased 8.5% compared with last year, to a total of 449 million head in March 2009, according to government statistics. Meanwhile, the wholesale price of pork fell to 14.49 yuan per kilo on May 10, a drop of over 22% compared to the beginning of this year.

China’s Sichuan province announced its own frozen pork stockpile plan earlier this month, reported the Chengdu-based West China City Daily newspaper.

In January six ministries jointly announced a plan to increase restrictions on pork imports.

China’s customs statistics showed that pork imports to Guangdong province decreased to 28,000 metric tons during the first quarter of 2009, a drop of 48.4% compared with the same period last year.

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Central America responds to flu threat

Central America is in the earliy stages of responding to the threat posed by H1N1 flu that has affected Mexico and the U.S., according to Noticen.  The region is on alert, with El Salvador appearing to have taken the most decisive measures so far. President Antonio Saca has declared a state of emergency. The decree permits the Ministry of Health to request funds from the treasury to obtain medications and make whatever other expenditures it deems necessary to prevent and treat.  Saca said he had ordered the treasury to stand ready to make the disbursements and also to provide personnel to observe people entering the country for signs of the disease. Also, pork imports from the U.S., Mexico and Canada have been suspended. Interrupting commercial flows is a sensitive measure, so Agriculture Minister Mario Salaverria quickly went public to announce, “It is a temporary measure. We must have clarity where and how this problem originated, how this virus is transmitted to humans. It is a precautionary measure we have taken.”  He explained that it was not El Salvador’s idea, and it was not alone in doing it. He said it was a joint decision of agriculture ministers of the isthmus at an April 24 meeting. El Salvador normally imports about 69,000 kg of pork a month from the U.S. and Mexico. Salaverria said that supplies on hand were sufficient to avoid shortages and that domestically grown pigs are constantly monitored and are disease free. Nicaragua also suspended pork and pig imports but very quickly reinstated pork products other than live pigs, even though, according to an official, Nicaragua does not import live pigs from Mexico.  The region’s health ministers met in Managua on April 28 to agree on an emergency plan. The ministers decided upon health decrees like the one Saca issued, as well as monitoring and mass prevention campaigns. They also contributed to a regional-impact analysis, given the particular vulnerabilities occasioned by poverty and scarce resources. Prevention campaigning involved the media in region-wide messages with recommendations and instructions for personal and collective hygienic practices, and explanations of facts concerning the disease. In Costa Rica there were two confirmed cases of H1N1, both had arrived by air from Mexico.

Safe to eat pork says USDA, CDC

The US Department of Agriculture and Centers for Disease Control said it is safe to eat pork.

USDA secretary Tom Vilsack said swine flu can’t be contracted from eating pork as the virus is not transmitted through food.

About 65 people in the US, 1,300 in Mexico, and people in Canada, Europe, Asia-Pacific countries and the Middle East have been infected by the hybrid influenza.

The US National Pork Board, too, has asked producers to increase biosecurity protocol in their farms.

Meanwhile, the World Organization for Animal Health stressed the flu should not be called “swine flu” as it contained avian and human components, according to a Reuters report. Also, there are no reports of pig being infected with it.

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