ThePigSite Newsletter - 5 March 2012

ThePigSite Weekly Newsletter

Monday 5th March 2012

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Welcome to this week's newsletter

Editorial – Positive News for Meat Processing Sector; ASF Creeps Closer to Europe

Following a long period of volatile commodity prices, financial restraints, tight money markets in the banking sector and a consumer reluctance to spend, could we be seeing the green shoots of recovery for the meat processing sector?

A recent Fitch Ratings' quarterly update on the US protein industry did not paint a particularly rosy picture and showed pressure was still on the processors. It showed a significant magnitude of margin contraction in beef and pork processing.

According to the report, meat processing margins are compressing because wholesale pricing is not always keeping pace with changes in livestock costs. However, what may be more telling about the potential recovery of the sector is the willingness for US companies to invest, particularly in the beverage and beef sectors.

Similar investment has been seen in companies around the world, notably, and perhaps not surprisingly, in the BRIC countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China.

Russia’s Cherkizovo Group is making good progress at its three new pork complexes in the Tambov, Lipetsk and Voronezh regions of Central Russia.

In 2011, Russia’s Miratorg Agribusiness Holding consolidated its status as a leader in pork production as well as becoming the country’s biggest feed manufacturer.

In Europe, Finnish meat processor, Atria, is to centralise production of meat products in Sweden aimed at streamlining and automating the production process of ham products and the slicing of cold cuts.

These positive and optimistic trends can also be seen in the latest results from some of the leading meat and poultry processing companies, including US-based Tyson Foods, Sara Lee and Hormel Foods as well as JBS and Marfrig of Brazil, Maple Leaf Foods in Canada and Finnish meat processor, HKScan.

In the US, prices for 40–pound feeder pigs are at their highest ever, averaging $85 to $86 per head.

A sellers’ market may also be emerging in the UK. After four months of static or falling pig prices in the UK, sellers heaved a sigh of relief last week as two processing companies raised their prices.

In the Dominican Republic, however, the economic situation for farmers has been so bad that the pig industry has collapsed.

In Brussels last week, delegates to a conference have been examining the new EU animal welfare strategy, which has the aims of enhanced consumer empowerment and strengthening the enforcement of existing rules in an integrated approach to animal welfare.

At the meeting, farmers’ association, Copa-Cogeca, highlighted the need for farmers to be able to recover their additional costs from having high EU animal welfare standards and to make consumers aware of this.

The number of pigs slaughtered in Ireland in January was 13 per cent higher than the same month of last year.

While the overall pig population was almost unchanged on 1 January 2012 from a year previously, there are 11 per cent fewer young animals kept for breeding in Denmark than in January 2011.

Finally, turning to disease news, foot and mouth disease (FMD) has been found on a farm in the Primorye region in the far south-eastern corner of Russia.

A total of 100 pigs have been slaughtered so far in Mpumalanga of South Africa after an outbreak of African swine fever (ASF). In Russia, ASF has been reported on a farm in the republic of Karelia, which is in the north-west of the country and borders Finland. Ukrainian authorities last week suspended pork imports from Belarus on fears of ASF there.

Jackie Linden

This Week's Feature Articles

We have 8 new features this week:

Cycles in China’s Pork Market
The sharp increase in pork prices during 2007 drew attention to the Chinese market’s volatility and cycles, highlight Fred Gale, Daniel Marti and Dinghuan Hu in a report entitled ‘China’s Volatile Pork Industry’ from the USDA Economic Research Service.

Occurrence of Chlamydia in Pigs
Chlamydia suis was found in most intestinal and conjunctival samples from pigs by researchers in Sweden but they found no correlation with clinical signs.

Genetic Line Influences Growth Rate Responses to Vaccination for PCV2
Pig genetic line affected the response to porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) vaccination in terms of growth response in a study carried out in Kansas. The mean weight difference between vaccinated and control pigs was almost four times greater in the purebred Durocs than a synthetic White Pietrain line on day 130. This difference should be considered a risk factor for the expression of this disease, the researchers said.

Canadian Pig Industry Updates its Codes of Practice
The pig industry in Canada is in the process of updating its codes on health and welfare, Florrian Possberg told the 2012 Banff Pork Seminar.

Utilising Vaccination for Porcine Circovirus Type 2 as a Tool to Aid Elimination of PCV2 from Swine Populations
Porcine circovirus virus 2 (PCVs) vaccine can affect viral circulation on farms but would need to be used in conjunction with other management practices to eliminate PCV2 from most pig populations, reported M.L. Potter of Abilene Animal Hospital and co-authors to Kansas Swine Day 2011.

Evaluating the Effects of Pelleting Deoxynivalenol-Contaminated DDGS with Sodium Metabisulphite on Analysed DON Levels
Conditioning temperature and retention time alone did not affect levels of the mycotoxin, deoxynivalenol (DON), in dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) from maize but pelleting DDGS reduced DON levels as the level of sodium metabisulphite (SMB) was increased to 2.5 per cent, according to research summarised in the latest newsletter from the Department of Animal Sciences and Industry at Kansas State University.

Trichinella
A review of the latest information on this foodborne parasite in Annual Review of Literature & Horizon Scanning Report: Summary of Papers Published in 2010 from the AHVLA Parasitology Group.

Make Money from the Sun
The benefits of installing renewable energy solar photovoltaics (PV) are outlined in no. 29 of the Farm Case Study series from BPEX.

MSD Animal Health - It's a New Day for Animal Health

Market Reports

» BPEX Export Bulletin – Week 9
» USDA GAIN: China Livestock and Products Semi-annual
» USDA GAIN: EU-27 Livestock and Products Semi-annual
» QMS Pig Market Report - February 2012
» AHDB European Market Survey - 2 March 2012
» AHDB UK Market Survey - 2 March 2012
» CSO Livestock Survey (January 2012)
» USDA Agricultural Prices - February 2012

Company News

Texas & Cornell Uni's Join Forces with Pfizer
US - Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine and Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences have announced a groundbreaking partnership with Pfizer Animal Health. This unique partnership between academia and industry will deliver the Universities’ expertise in medicine and teaching, supported by Pfizer Animal Health’s information delivery and customer service know-how.

New Vaccine to Fight PRRS
US - Fostera™ PRRS, a modified-live vaccine for growing pigs from Pfizer Animal Health, brings a new high standard of innovation to the costly battle against porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) respiratory disease.

First Shipment of Hypor Breeders to Taiwan
TAIWAN - Hypor, the pig breeding division of Hendrix Genetics, announced that their first delivery of Hypor breeders arrived to Taiwan on 30 December. All 111 pigs arrived at Taipei Airport Taiwan in good condition and great health.

Look to Litter Size
UK - BPEX has given the pig industry the challenge – can its sows produce an average two tonnes of pig meat per year?

Swine Markets in Spain
SPAIN - The first week of March Genesus will be visiting customers and friends in Spain on a week road trip. We also will be meeting producers and Spain's swine industry leaders in this European country, writes Javier Santamartina from Sales & Service at Genesus Spain, Italy and Portugal.

BPEX Marketing Head Retires
UK - Chris Lamb, Head of Marketing for BPEX, has spent almost all his career in the food industry.

Legacy of Farrowing House Scour
UK - Scour in farrowing houses is well-recognised. Perhaps what is less recognised is how much effect this can have on the post-weaning performance, says Paul Thompson, veterinary consultant to pig-breeding company, ACMC.

New Large Animal Territory Manager for Ceva
UK - Ceva Animal Health has appointed Charlotte Hobby as the new Large Animal Territory Manager for North Wales and the West Midlands.

PCV2 Research Projects Awarded to France & Spain
FRANCE & SPAIN - For the fifth time, the European PCV2 Research Award sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim funds research projects related to Porcine Circovirus Type 2 (PCV2) infection and associated diseases. Nine high quality research proposals were submitted from seven different countries (UK, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, and France).

Global Pig Industry News