WholeHogIssue216, January 2013

The front page of the January 2013 issue describes the latest available German pig herd census data and incorporates some data on German imports of Dutch and Danish live pigs. Page 2 presents the data from the USA’s latest quarterly hogs and pigs report including breeding herd changes and sow productivity figures. Page 3 uses data from the Danes’ latest livestock census to describe breeding herd and inventory changes – and also sets out Danish live pig exports for the first eleven months of 2012 and 2011. Page 4’s analysis of the Global Pig Price Index notes that the global pig price cycle is heading downwards as the New Year begins. Page 5 provides some key charts and data for the Interpig group’s latest report showing who are the winners and losers in the global pig industry’s league table of competitiveness. Pig prices in the EU end the year on a subdued note on page 6. On page 7 the latest Ractopamine scare in Russia threatens the growth of Canada’s exports to that market.   On page 8 the USA’s pork export sales for eleven months of 2012 are described as a curate’s egg. Australia’s exporters had a bad month in October in the latest trade data on page 9. Page 10 provides the trade data for the Japanese imported pork market – a decline in sales for some exporters but not for others. News in Short on page 11 includes short reports on; the USDA’s latest outlook for pork production, exports and prices; the complaints by Rosselkhoznadzor that ractopamine traces in pork have been found in pork from the John Morrell Food Group facility in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and in pork from the Canadian packers, Aliments Asta Inc. and Quality Meat Packers Ltd., Rosselkhoznadzor has also notified the Brazilians that it found residues of ractopamine in pork exported from Brazil, from BRF Brasil Foods and Seara; the UK’s National Pig association’s allegations that illegal pork is being produced in the EU as some member states have not complied with new welfare rules on sow stalls; the EU’s plans to review member states’ compliance with new welfare rules and for enforcement action against those who contravene the new rules; Genus PIC’s exports of breeding sows and boars to Vietnam, the Canadian Pork Council’s estimate of damages caused by the WTO-illegal COOL rules introduced by the USA; Brazil’s pork export numbers for the first eleven months of 2012. The back page sets out the Short View on the “horse trading” in beef burgers in Ireland and the UK as equine and pigmeat DNA is discovered in batches of beef products produced by Anglo Beef Processors and Dalepak; global pig prices for 18 countries are presented in the Global Price Monitor.