Dear readers,

let’s see some positive news related to our industry:

• In a publication in Animal Frontiers, nearly 1,000 academics from major universities are calling for an end to the promotion of vegetarian and vegan diets, stating that meat is essential for a healthy lifestyle. Meat is rich in essential nutrients, minerals, and health-promoting compounds, which are often lacking in low-income communities. The scientists warn that removing meat and dairy from diets would harm human health, particularly among vulnerable groups. They argue that heavily restricting meat, dairy, and eggs should not be recommended for general populations, despite the recent push towards plant-based diets.
• The Texas State Legislature has passed a bill that requires alt-meat products to carry specific labels. The bill requires plant-based alt-meat products to be labeled with one of the following: “analogue; meatless; plant-based; made from plants, or a similar qualifying term.” If you ask me, I prefer: “meatless” !
• USDA will make an additional $130 million financial assistance available to qualifying farm loan program borrowers who are facing financial risk.
• 12 new USDA Regional Food Business Centers will provide national coverage coordination, technical assistance, and capacity building to help farmers, ranchers, and other food businesses access new markets and navigate federal, state, and local resources.
•  USDA also announced a $420 million Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program (RFSI) to fund innovative projects designed invest in processing and distribution capacity to build resilience across the middle of the supply chain and strengthen local and regional food systems. USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) will partner with state and territories’ departments of agriculture for this program.
• Tyson teamed up with energy companies NW Natural and BioCarbN to build a new methane capture facility in Nebraska. They will construct the $12-million facility to capture methane from Tyson’s Dakota City, Neb. Plant, and will convert the gas into renewable natural gas to heat homes and business. This is the second Tyson facility to utilize such technology, following the processor’s Lexington, Neb. plant from early last year. According to the release, the combined plants will produce enough natural gas to heat 5,400 homes annually.
• Chinese imports for the first quarter of 2023 showed an improvement in volumes of 110,000 tonnes (+26%) for pork meat (530,000 T) while purchases of co-products increased by 25,000 tons (+9.4%) to 290,000 T. Among suppliers, Spain remains the undisputed leader but only recorded a slight increase of 5.6% compared to the first quarter of 2022 for a total of 132,360 tonnes of meat (fresh and frozen). The countries of the American continent have seen their sales increase significantly, such as Brazil, the USA, Canada and Chile. Sales from Denmark but also from the Netherlands are also experiencing strong growth.

Events calendar:

• When the global packaging industry meets in Düsseldorf, when innovations along the entire value chain are presented and the top trends are discussed, then you know it’s Interpack. The fair is taking place between 4-10 of May.
• SIAL Canada is the privileged gateway to the American and international markets. The show is bringing together more than 1,000 national and international exhibitors from 50 countries and welcoming more than 20,000 professional visitors from Canada, the United States and 60 other countries in Toronto, on 9-11 of May.

Try to remember…

            While in some areas the focus is on technology, in the EU, especially in some states, the focus is on closing the doors.

            The Netherlands is starting a program of 5 years, in value of 1,47 billion€, in order to close farms that are considered with high environmental impact.

In the neighboring Germany, Lower Saxony’s Green Minister of Agriculture, Miriam Staudte, is proposing that farmers who have given up pig farming grow cannabis in the stables. The minister could imagine „that this meshes well”. For example, indoor cultivation in former pigsties is safe – both in terms of the buildings and the quality of the hemp plants, which can be better controlled in the stables. Meanwhile Germany imported more slaughter pigs and piglets from abroad in the first three months of this year. From January to March, almost 140,000 slaughter pigs and around 790,000 piglets crossed the border into Germany. The average import of fattening pigs in the previous year was only about 100,000 units per month, piglet imports were around 730,000 units per month. The countries of origin of imported piglets are almost exclusively Denmark and the Netherlands. After a sharp decline in the number of sows in Germany, the local supply of piglets is no longer sufficient to meet the needs of the fatteners. That’s fine, sit down and ask for some cannabis, you may see the bright future of the German meat industry.

The Czech State Veterinary Administration has informed that two new cases of wild boars with the African swine fever virus have been found. The first of them was in an already existing closed zone. The latter, however, is far outside the so far infected area. The State Veterinary Administration immediately declared an infection zone in the vicinity, which includes 14 cadastral territories with an area of 230 square km. Emergency veterinary measures have been announced in this area, which prohibit, among other things, any movement of animals or keeping animals in outdoor farms or enclosures. Part of the measures is also the obligation to kill animals in non-commercial farms within 10 days.

We had some great meetings at the Hungarian National Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Fair, last week, including a round table regarding the swine industry in Hungary and Romania. One remark, made by the representative of the market chain whom is the leader in meat sales in Hungary: despite all the advertisement, meat alternatives do not take more than 1 meter of the shelves!

Taking advantage of the presence of a large number of representative players in the pig industry, someone took the initiative to ask for a forecast of carcass reference price for the first week of September. The more than 10 bets are between 2,18 and 2,6 €/kg.  Argument for the lowest bet: the decrease of the grain prices. If this is valid , why we didn’t see also increasing pig prices in late autumn? In the beginning of September, we will try to remember…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZni3VJUdDY

European pig and piglet prices: HW= Hot weight; L= live weight;

COUNTRY	PIG(EUR)	TREND	PIGLET(EUR)	TREND	OBSERVATION
GERMANY	2,33 HW		84,5/25 kg
NETHERLANDS	2,13-2,35 HW		75,50/25 kg
BELGIUM	1,7 L		74/20 kg
DANEMARK	1,85 HW		90/25 kg
FRANCE	2,18HW
ITALY	1,86 L- 115 kg, 2,18 L- 160 kg, DOC		137/30 kg
SPAIN	2,02-2,05 L		101-111/20kg
PORTUGAL	2,8 HW
AUSTRIA	2,29 HW		97,5 /25 kg
POLAND	1,92-2,28 L		98 -144/20-30 kg		Partner info; no quotation
CROATIA	2-2,50 HW		100-110/ 25 kg		Partner info; no quotation
SERBIA	2,2 L		99-113,5/ 25 kg		Partner info; no quotation
CZECH R.	2,27-2,33 HW		75-81,5/ 25 kg		Partner info; no quotation
SLOVAKIA	1,9-1,95 L		105-110/25 kg		Partner info; no quotation
HUNGARY	1,88-2,04 L		105-111/ 25 kg		Partner info; no quotation
ROMANIA	1,86 -1,99 L		105-111/25kg		Partner info; no quotation