Dear readers,
We have some good news related to the pig industry:
- Beyond Meat Inc.’s financial results for the first quarter of 2025: net revenue was $68.7 million, a drop of 9.1% from the same period a year earlier, and net losses were $52.9 million, about flat with a net loss of $54.4 million for the year-earlier period. People turning back to meat !
- In 2024 the average per capita meat consumption in the EU rose by 2 kilograms to 66 kg. There are significant differences in consumption between individual countries: Per capita meat consumption is highest in Cyprus (88 kg), Ireland (87 kg), Portugal (85 kg), and Spain (85 kg). With a consumption of around 75 kg, the Netherlands scores well above this EU average. At 53 kg per capita, Germany is well below the EU average and is among the countries with the lowest meat consumption. This may change with the new government.
- In 2025, the Schleswig-Holstein state government will support investments in (partially) mobile slaughter units for cattle , pigs and poultry. The aim is to enable the animals to be slaughtered on site as humanely as possible – without long transports and in compliance with the highest animal welfare standards.
- A new scientific coalition designed to support the transformation and resilience of the EU agri-food sector has been founded: European Science Alliance for Agriculture and Food (ESAAF).The founding members of ESAAF represent a geographically diverse and scientifically powerful coalition:
- Aarhus University (AU) – Denmark
- Julius Kühn-Institut (JKI) – Germany
- National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE) – France
- Wageningen University & Research (WUR) – The Netherlands
- Warsaw University of Life Sciences (WULS) – Poland
Together, these institutions make decades of scientific excellence, innovation, and field-based knowledge available to Brussels’ policy makers. ESAAF is not limited to these five institutions and expects an expansion from organizations in different regions with academic merits in the field of agriculture and food.
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. It takes place on 4 days from Tuesday, 13.05.2025 to Friday, 16.05.2025 in Baku.
- Food 4 Future – Expo FoodTech is a trade fair dedicated to innovation in the food and beverage industry in Portugal. The fair takes place at the Bilbao Exhibition Centre on 3 days from Tuesday, 13.05.2025 to Thursday, 15.05.2025.
- The Nigeria Meat Tech Expo (NIMEAT) is an annual trade fair and recognized as a leading platform for innovation and progress in Nigeria’s meat industry. The event takes place at NIPOLI Village, in Ibadan, on 3 days from Tuesday, 13. May to Thursday, 15. May 2025.
- HOFEX is one of Asia’s most prominent and long-established trade fairs for food, beverages, and the hospitality industry. The fair will take place on 3 days from Wednesday, 14. May to Friday, 16. May 2025 in Hong Kong, at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
- The Food Technology trade fair is a symbol of technological progress in food processing and is recognized as the leading professional event for food technology, processing, and safety in the Republic of Moldova. It takes place on 4 days from Thursday, 15.05.2025 to Sunday, 18.05.2025 at the MoldExpo Exhibition Centre in Chişinău .
- The Agricultural Fair in Novi Sad, Serbia, has been attracting individuals, business, business, and political delegations for more than nine decades and creates a creative environment for new ventures . In 2025, it will be held from May 17 to 22. See you there!
- The SIAL China, a leading international trade fair for food and beverages, will take place on 3 days from Monday, 19. May to Wednesday, 21. May 2025 in Shanghai.
Feels like summer
We see the positive vibe in the European pork market. In the Mediterranean part the touristic season has already started. After the Covid lockdown, more and more people are looking to go out and enjoy life as much as possible. While Paris is still the most visited city on the continent, the seaside is the main attraction for the summer time. Frozen meat stocks were low in the last 3 years, partially due to the energy costs, partially due to the unpredictable evolution of the main pig quotations.
African Swine Fever(ASF) still takes a lot of pigs out of the market, especially in the East of Europe, with Romania and Moldavia leading in terms of market hog losses. The new element is represented by the foot-and-mouth disease(FMD). Initially perturbating the German protein market, it has moved to the Hungarian-Slovakian area. Now is not only a matter of animal disease reglementation, but also a political one. While none of the countries in the area are self sufficient in terms of pork, the necessary restrictions imposed by the FMD have been exaggerated for a period by the neighboring countries, even this issue backfired in some issues. Unfortunately, the dispute is far to be over.
The lack of self-sufficiency of the national markets in the east of Europe has been solved with purchase from Spain, mainly. Trump’s tariff war with China has increased the market share of the Spanish pork in the Asian market, the live pig price in Spain is the highest in Europe and pork becomes more and more expensive.
The east European protein markets are price sensitive and the even more expensive and less available beef also contributes to the increasing request of pork. The logical step would be to ease up the tension in the region and let the protein move between the countries, is the only option to maintain a reasonable price level for the pork, which is the most consumed meat in the region, because it already feels like summer!
