Dear readers,
Not too much happens in a short week, but we always find some positive developments:
- Sigma Foods, a multinational company based in Mexico, has purchased Roger Wood Foods LLC, a smoked meat producer located in Georgia that has been in operation for over 80 years. Details regarding the financial aspects of the acquisition have not been revealed. According to the company, the purchase brings into Sigma’s portfolio the leading smoked sausage manufacturer in the Southeastern United States .Roger Wood runs a facility in Savannah, Georgia, where it produces sausages and other smoked meat items, which brought in around $50 million in revenue last year. This transaction signifies Sigma’s inaugural entry into manufacturing within the Southeastern United States.
- The College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Idaho officially launched its new Meat Science and Innovation Center, which spans 1200 square meter, in honor of Ron Richard. The late Ron Richard served for many years as the manager of Vandal Meats, a business associated with the campus that provides meat products “created by students and staff from the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences Department of Animal, Veterinary and Food Sciences.” Revenue from Vandal Meats assists in covering expenses related to livestock, supplies, student labor, and the upkeep of the university’s facilities .This company generates $325,000 each year in sales. The newly constructed $14 million slaughterhouse replaces an older building and will offer specialized areas for various activities to occur at the same time, in addition to state-of-the-art equipment and significantly improved operational efficiency. While we are complaining about the lack of trained specialists, we should copy this kind of good practice!
Events calendar:
- InterFood Azerbaijan is an annual trade fair that has established itself as a key platform for the food and beverage industry in the South Caucasus. The exhibition takes place on 4 days from Tuesday, 05.05.2026 to Friday, 08.05.2026.
- AGRIMAT (Indonesia Agriculture Machinery, Accessories & Tools Expo) is Indonesia’s leading trade fair for agricultural machinery, accessories, and advanced technologies. This event takes place at the NICE Nusantara International Convention Exhibition in Tangerang on 4 days from Wednesday, 06. May to Saturday, 09. May 2026.
- The “Livestock Taiwan” Expo takes place at the ICC TAINAN International Convention Center in Tainan. The fair will take place on 3 days from Wednesday, 06. May to Friday, 08. May 2026.
The Reason
We had a couple of good years in the pig livestock sector, after the global Covid crisis. Everyone was optimistic, but was there any data to support this attitude?
I am in a permanent contact with professionals and organizations from all over the world, but, first of all, from central and eastern Europe. African swine fever (ASF) hit us hard in the last decade and, to be honest, most of the measures taken by the statal authorities didn’t bring the expected results. In some cases, it is even more difficult to react, when the ASF hits the border area of countries that don’t have the best historical relationship.
Spain’s ASF outbreak left a high amount of pork on the European market, making predictions even more difficult. The Iranian war affected the logistic flows and costs. This are common issues. We see also an other one, the decrease of the pork consumption. In the past weeks I had many meetings with key players of the pig industry, all stating the same, with figures between 20-40%. Some of them are also active in the beef and poultry segment. Our discussion went on to this competitors evolution and it is really difficult to understand what is happening. The demand for beef increased, supporting almost unprecedented price levels. And here we do a comparison between red meats. Poultry demand also increased, even if not with the same pace. We used to see a competition between chicken and pork, with a small market advantage for the cheaper one. Now the chicken breast is typically more expensive than almost any pork cut and still seeing more demand. Market chains are asking cheaper and cheaper pork cuts from the slaughterhouses. The slaughterhouses are asking cheaper and cheaper pigs from the farmers. Farmers are now below the cost of production for many months. We are all appealing to the tool of price reduction in order to increase sales/consumption. It is not working! The reduction of pork consumption is a fact and all the industry has to work on the solution. How can we do it, as long as we don’t know the main reasons?
