Dear readers,
Some good things for the swine industry:
- The EU Council of Agriculture Ministers decided to convey to the European Commission the need to protect the names of animal-based food products to ensure transparent labeling that does not mislead consumers about products that mimic meat.
- The British government is investing £1 billion in a new National Biosecurity Centre to bolster the UK’s disease defenses and help prevent a future pandemic. The new National Biosecurity Centre at the UK’s animal health facility at Weybridge, in Surrey, to improve the UK’s resilience against animal disease. The first interim labs to support critical science while the site is transformed will be ready in 2027 and 2028. The main construction works start in 2027, with the full NBC live and operational in 2033/34.
- Campofrío is investing €134m in a new processed-meat plant in Utiel, Spain, will replace a site 75 km east in Torrent close to the city of Valencia. The Torrent site, which employed over 300 workers, was damaged by a hurricane in October 2024.
- The Food Consumption Panel prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture of Spain regarding purchases made by Spanish households shows that in the first quarter of 2025 there was a 5% increase in per capita consumption of meat and meat products, reaching 11 kg . From this figure 8.11 kg is fresh meat, an increase of 5.4% compared to 2024. Pork has grown by 8.5% to 2.53 kg. The meat derivatives grow by 3.1% to 2.57 kg. For cured ham , the 27.3% drop in consumption of whole ham is significant , while that of sliced ham grew by 13.6%. By type of ham, white pork ham remained stable while demand for Iberian ham increased.
- The Brabant province will introduce a new pig policy before the end of the year, to prevent the risk of an outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) in the Netherlands.
Events calendar:
- Food & Drinks Malaysia by SIAL serves as a specialized platform to promote the food and beverage industry in Malaysia and the ASEAN countries. It takes place on 3 days from Tuesday, 01.07.2025 to Thursday, 03.07.2025.
- The Food & Drink Processing Expo (FDP Expo) is India’s leading trade fair dedicated to the innovative food and beverage processing industry. It will take place on 3 days from Wednesday, 02. July to Friday, 04. July 2025 in Coimbatore.
- IndoLivestock is Indonesia’s leading international fair for livestock, feed, dairy, and animal health. It will take place on 3 days from Wednesday, 02. July to Friday, 04. July 2025 in Surabaya.
Get the Balance Right
The recent ASF case in wild boars in Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia are caused by a different variant of the virus than was previously found in West and East Germany, as the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut (FLI) has determined. The new variant resembles ASF viruses from the Italian region of Calabria, according to the institute. Given the distance, the spread is probably due to human activity.
Meanwhile in Vietnam, despite the availability of registered vaccines against ASF, most local producers are in no hurry to vaccinate their animals. There are several reasons for this: distrust of the vaccines’ effectiveness, lack of clear vaccination protocols, lack of information about virus strains in the regions and, last but not least, lack of a compensation system in case of losses.
China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has announced plans to reduce the nation’s breeding sow herd by 1 million animals, bringing the current sow inventory from 40.38 million to approximately 39.5 million. China imported over 760,000 tons of pork and pork offal between January and April 2025 (up 1.8% year-over-year).
Europe is focused on different issues: Wageningen University & Research and consultancy Connecting Agri & Food have calculated the costs of animal-friendly livestock farming. The additional annual costs, including loss of yield, amount to 1.3 billion to 2.1 billion euros per year, equivalent to 52 to 88 euros per Dutch household per year. On average, the retail price of animal products increases by 6% to 9%.
Pressure of the slaughter industry of Germany on the pig price continued, while Tönnies is campaigning for more pigs with high animal welfare status. Less pigs with lower weight during summer are not supporting this measure. The market organization of the German pig industry is well structured, allowing also another approach, stated several times in my articles: decrease of the piglet price, as it just happened this week. It’s all about getting the balance right!
