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.

For more information, please visit WATT.

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.

To read more about the feed industry, please go to WATT.

U.S. pork exports increase 50% in 2008

United States (U.S.) exports of fresh and frozen pork increased by more than 50% in 2008, compared with exports in 2007, according to the European Market Survey.

The largest destination for U.S. exports in 2008 continued to be Japan, reportedly accounting for over a quarter of all shipments. Mexico, China, Hong Kong and Russia also showed an increase in fresh and frozen pork year-on-year.

Imported pork, according to the European Market Survey, was less competitively priced compared with domestic pork in 2008. The weakening value of the U.S. dollar against the Euro resulted in imports from Denmark to the U.S. becoming less attractive.

Imports from Canada were 18% lower year-on-year. U.S. finishers imported 7% fewer pigs from Canada during 2008, reportedly as a result of unfavorable exchange rates early in the year, ongoing herd reductions in Canada, and uncertainty created by the U.S. country of origin labeling (COOL) requirements that went into effect September 30, 2008.

Label of origin rule likely to decrease exports of Canadian hogs to US

The final US mandatory Country of Origin Labelling (COOL) rule issued earlier this month is likely to reduce shipments of live Canadian hogs to the United States, but increase exports of finished Canadian pork. Enforcement of the rule begins in April.

“My expectation is we’re probably going to see fewer hogs coming south into the United States and more pork,” says Dr Ron Plain, University of Missouri (USA) economist. “In fact, we seem to be trending up a little bit in hog slaughter in Canada,” he says in Farmscape online.

“I think when we look at the complications associated with record keeping and labelling and verifying the correct label that lots of times it’s going to end up more sensible and lower cost to slaughter hogs in Canada and send the pork south already labelled than it will be to send the hogs south,” Plain says.

“If you try to handle animals from more than one country on the same day, it becomes a real record keeping segregation challenge unless you’re going to just label it all US and Canada, so a lot of plants are wanting to go with only one label,” he adds.

Mong Reththy Group pork project to include feedmill

The Mong Reththy Group in Cambodia has plans for a pork project that also includes adding a feedmill with a projected output of 330,000 metric tons per year. In addition to boosting local pork production, the project would increase the incomes of corn, cassava and soybean farmers, while creating employment and new opportunities for production, says Kao Phal, director of the Animal Health and Production Department at the Ministry of Agriculture. Mong Reththy has set up a new company called M’s Pig ACMC in association with UK breeder ACMC, with which it has agreed a 20-year franchise deal. ACMC will deliver 600 breeding pigs for a new unit on a five-hectare site in the Prey Nop district of Sihanoukville, Cambodia, which will house a nucleus herd. Eventually this unit will supply enough commercial AC1 sows to produce 1.1 million slaughter pigs per year by 2015. The project also involves a slaughter/process plant for the pigs.

Marked rise in EU pig meat exports

The European Union (EU) exported over 1 million metric tons of pig meat in the first six months of 2008, representing an increase of more than 40% compared with exports in the same period of 2007.

Exports of frozen pork to Russia doubled to 142,000 metric tons, aided by the availability of export refunds. More frozen pork was shipped to Japan and Hong Kong, and the Ukraine has emerged as an important destination. In contrast, less was exported to South Korea and the United States than last year. The rise in exports of pig offal this year is primarily the result of increased trade with Hong Kong, Russia, and China. At 167,000 metric tons, exports to Hong Kong were almost double the volume exported in January-June 2007.

Data available from Danske Slagterier shows that Danish exports of pig meat have risen by 15% in the first half of 2008, with shipments to both Japan and Russia up 10%. There was more than a 60% increase in exports to China, mostly offal (36,000 metric tons).

Germany has also exported more pig meat outside of the EU this year, with chilled and frozen pork exports to Russia doubled to 28,000 metric tons. Russia has also become a major destination for French pork exports, up from 3,000 to 23,000 metric tons. German exports of pig offal to Hong Kong have doubled to 66,000 metric tons.

---