Dear readers,
We start with some positive evolutions on the swine market:
- The Italian Authority for the Market Competition (AGCM) will assess how large-scale retail chains exercise their buying power, “including through non-corporate aggregation arrangements”, such as buying groups, “super-buying groups” and cooperatives. The investigation will also look at how large retailers might wield their buying power through fees charged to suppliers for services like listings, product launches, and promotions.
- The Philippines, with a population of around 122 million, is the world’s sixth-largest pork importer. Pork is a key type of meat for Filipino consumers, accounting for about half of the fresh meat market, and demand continues to rise due to population growth. The Philippines has lifted a temporary ban on imports of pork and pork products from Poland.
- A study in China has revealed that most centenarians there eat meat, which may be particularly helpful for those who are underweight. To better understand the link between diet and longevity, Dr. Wang and her colleagues from Fudan University in Shanghai gathered data from a centralized Chinese health database on people older than 65.Pulling from the profiles, the researchers investigated the database’s 5203 participants, who were at least 80 years old in 1998 and were free of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer. The researchers observed that the meat eaters were more likely to reach 100 than their vegetarian, pescatarian and vegan counterparts.
Events calendar:
- The “Fast Food & Café & Restaurant Expo” (FFCR), established in 2007, is a prestigious trade fair in the fast food and café industry. It takes place annually in various Scandinavian cities. This year it will take place on 2 days from Wednesday, 21. January to Thursday, 22. January 2026 in Helsinki, Finland.
- The Food & Drink Processing Expo (FDP Expo) is India’s leading trade fair dedicated to the innovative food and beverage processing industry. The Food & Drink Processing Expo will take place on 3 days from Tuesday, 20. January to Thursday, 22. January 2026 in Bangalore.
- For over 50 years, the Iowa Pork Producers Association has been putting together the Iowa Pork Congress, an event that combines business, education, achievement recognition, and social get-togethers for those whose daily lives depend on pork production. All events will take place at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, Iowa, between 20-22 January 2026.
Rule the World
It’s not only me talking about the decline of the traditional pig producing countries decline in terms of volumes.
In 2025, 14,007,851 pigs were slaughtered in the Netherlands. Comparatively, this is 3.3% less than in 2024. In 2020 the number was 15,815,397 pigs were slaughtered in the Netherlands. The decline is higher than some countries yearly pig production.
Similar evolution is expected in the former leader of the pig industry in Europe: Germany. According to the ISN (German Pig Producers’ Association), almost half of the sow farms are likely to cease operations as soon as the conversion of the farrowing pen is due. Currently, just over 20% of farms are undertaking the conversion. For another 30 %, the future of sow farming remains uncertain. Furthermore, 15 % of the farmers have already decided to discontinue sow farming in connection with the breeding center. Financing is a main factor, the proportion of businesses that have applied for or already received funding is around 6 percent.
As you can see, the structural change of the pig industry may be more important to be discussed, than the possible effect of the Mercosur deal for our industry. With the deal signed last week, we should more focus on the Davos World Economic Forum, taking place this week, from 19 till 23 of January. The real business is just starting there. However, if you compare the list of the participants with the one of the politicians pretending to be on a sovereignty approach, you would be surprised…
Last year Donald Trump, just elected, did not participate in person. Now, the USA delegation is one of the largest ever to attend. Even he “won” the long desired Nobel peace prize, the U.S. president continues to create tension and chaos. Economic tools – tariffs – are used like threats for any issue that is not accepted by the counterparties. The outcome is mostly the opposite: important trade deals are closed between large markets mostly due to the unpredictability of Trump. We were focused on the Mercosur, but, for instance, an important trade deal has been closed between China and Canada. This is what you get, if you want to rule the world!
