Meat - Hog, Cattle, Poultry etc.

[behappyalways]

Swine on the line
African swine fever spreads to South-East Asia
It will be just as hard to stop there as it has been in China

THERE ARE few dishes that a typical Filipino, Thai or Vietnamese would not consider improved by the addition of pork. What better to stuff a squid with, or garnish a bowl of steaming noodles, or simply spit-roast and scoff? No wonder, then, that South-East Asia is home to more than 83m pigs.

But the outbreak of African swine fever that has swept through China in recent months is now spreading across the region. Its governments are likely to find it no easier than China’s to contain the disease, which is harmless to humans but typically fatal to pigs.

Swine fever first crossed the border from China into Vietnam in February. It has gradually worked its way south, and in April spread to Cambodia (see map). Thailand fears it is next. In fact, the disease could already be there or elsewhere: experts worry that monitoring and reporting are patchy.

Pigs catch the disease from each other, from contaminated surfaces, from ticks and from food (slop containing infected pork or pig’s blood). There is also a risk that farmed pigs may be infected by wild ones, and vice versa.

Those transporting not just live pigs, but also pork, across borders risk introducing swine fever to new areas. Meanwhile, pork prices have jumped more than 40% compared with a year ago and analysts expect overall inflation to rise in Vietnam and Cambodia as a result.

Culling swine is one of the main ways officials hope to curb the disease. Vietnam has slaughtered 2.5m pigs, twice as many as China. Bans on the import of pigs and pork are another tactic. But many of the region’s pig farms are tiny, as in China. Their owners cannot afford to erect special fencing or buy commercial feed.

The temptation, if they suspect their pigs are infected, is to kill or sell them quickly and quietly, to save themselves from financial ruin. Although the Vietnamese government compensates farmers who report sick pigs that are subsequently culled, the fear of slow or low payments can still put farmers off.

Fortunately, international co-ordination, especially between governments and companies in South-East Asia’s pork industry, has been impressive, says Wantanee Kalpravidh of the Food and Agriculture Organisation, a UN agency. She lauds a scheme to send Thai pork to Cambodia to meet demand at affordable prices—on carefully cleaned and monitored vehicles—to discourage the smuggling of possibly contaminated meat from Vietnam.

Somkuan Choowatanapakorn of Charoen Pokphand Foods, a big Thai agribusiness that handles lots of pork, says the company has “taken steps already” to train farmers to recognise and respond to the disease’s symptoms. He adds that contingency plans for an outbreak are also in place.

Despite such efforts, the scale of the porcine plague in China means that South-East Asia will probably struggle with it for as long as its neighbour does. A working vaccine is still a long way off. It is hard to see what can save the region’s bacon.

Source: The Economist

[winston]

Imports of US pork rise ahead of talks

by Stella Zhai

Chinese companies are preparing to purchase more pork from the United States as the government faces domestic shortages and top trade negotiators from both nations plan to meet in Washington next month.

The firms are inquiring about prices from pork exporters including Smithfield Foods, owned by China's WH Group (0288), and Tyson Foods, sources said.

The volume of the purchases has not been finalized but the sources estimate the amount to be around 100,000 tons, some of which will be for state reserves.

The imports may be part of China's efforts to ease tensions with the US as they strive to reach a trade deal. They also come at a time when the Asian nation, the world's biggest pork consumer, desperately needs more of the meat.

China has already boosted pork imports from the US, with July imports the highest in two years as the government makes purchases for state reserves.

Beijing will continue to exempt some US farm goods, including soybeans and pork, from additional tariffs, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported previously, citing the Commerce Ministry and the National Development and Reform Commission.

China has seen an almost 40 percent plunge in pig numbers as the impact of African swine fever worsens, and pork prices have surged more than 70 percent this year.

Vice Premier Hu Chunhua has warned that the supply situation will be "extremely severe" until the first half of 2020, and that the country is likely to have a pork shortage of 10 million tons this year, more than the roughly 8 million tons in annual global trade.

China imported 1.68 million tons of US soybeans in August, the most in four months, before top negotiators from the two countries meet in October in a further attempt to resolve their trade dispute.

The latest figures show a 84 percent increase compared with July and compares with 265,378 tons in August 2018.

China also bought 6.68 million tons of soybeans from Brazil, the country's largest supplier in August, up from 6.42 million tons in July.

Chinese companies could boost US soybean purchases to meet a potential supply gap in the fourth quarter.

Some companies have received waivers to buy soybeans without paying retaliatory tariffs, but the purchases may not be enough to cut US soy inventories significantly as American farmers prepare to harvest their crop.

Source: The Standard

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/section-n ... 0926&sid=2

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2019.09.21【文茜世界周報】　非洲豬瘟肆虐亞洲　至今已有九國淪為疫區
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9zXexH ... AU&index=1

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Swine fever could kill 25% of the world’s pigs, scientists say
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eOV5o7qP9Q

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The pain of surging pork prices is now being felt in Vietnam
https://www.theedgesingapore.com/news/f ... lt-vietnam

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South Korean river turns red after being polluted with pigs' blood
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-50384953

[winston]

China to restore pork supply in a year

China said it hopes to restore most of its pork supply in roughly a year, as worries about African swine fever continue to hurt the industry.

The number of breeding sows edged up 0.6 percent in October from a month earlier, rising for the first time since April last year, Yang Zhenhai, an official with China's Agriculture and Rural Affairs Ministry, said at a briefing today. "It's a very strong signal," Yang said.

But he said it will take time before consumers see supply rising because a period of about 10 months is needed for baby pigs to be born and mature.

The government aims to restore supply to about 80 percent of the level before African swine fever hit China by the end of next year, Yang said.

Despite some early signs of recovery in production, there has been little progress in developing a vaccine. Research institutions are still conducting bio-safety evaluations and none have applied for clinical trials, Yang said.

Source: The Standard

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking- ... 1122&sid=2

[winston]

China pork prices forecast to stay the course

China's pork prices are less likely to ease in the first nine months this year given low hog supply and pork imports, said Bruce Pang, head of macro and strategy research at China Renaissance Capital (1911).

The institution predicts 1.5 percent inflation this year in China, and that the producer price index will remain negative.

Pang expects pork prices to start cooling in the fourth quarter this year.

China Renaissance recommends stocks in the mainland consumption sectors including WH Group (0288) and Ausnutria Dairy (1717).

It also predicts there will be more overseas-listed companies considering secondary listings in Hong Kong.

China Renaissance says it is overweight on health care and financial stocks, expecting new economy firms to outperform China's GDP and the traditional companies this year.

Source: The Standard

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking- ... 0107&sid=2

[winston]

China's pork prices nearly doubled in December over a year ago despite government efforts to ease meat shortages caused by a disease outbreak, official data showed Thursday.

The price of pork rose 97% over a year earlier despite increased imports of China’s staple meat and the release of thousands of tons from government stockpiles.

China produces and consumes two-thirds of the world’s pork but supplies plunged as authorities destroyed pigs and blocked shipments to contain an outbreak of African swine fever that was
confirmed in August 2018.

Farmers have allowed herds to dwindle.

Global pork prices have climbed as Chinese importers buy more from Canada, Europe and other suppliers.

Authorities destroyed 390,000 pigs last year and a total of 1.2 million since the start of the outbreak, the Agriculture Ministry reported Wednesday.

Forecasters expect shortages to persist because many Chinese farmers have stopped raising pigs and others will need time to rebuild their herds, according to The Associated Press.

Source: Lim & Tan

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One of the largest pork processing facilities in the US is closing until further notice
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/12/busi ... index.html