Dear readers,

Let’s start the week with some good news from our industry:

• Vall Companys and Bioiberica join forces to invest 25 million in Zaragoza, Spain, to produce heparin with porcine intestinal mucosa
• The Spanish Serrano Ham Consortium (CJSE) released the export figures for Spanish cured hams and shoulders during the 1st quarter of 2023, reporting an increase of 20.22% in volumes and of 25.41% in terms of value in relation to the previous year.
• JBS  is building a $52 million feed factory in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, that will allow the company to double pig production in that region by the end of the year.The new unit will produce 50,000 tons of feed monthly and supply more than 300 farmers that grow pigs for the Seara brand.
• The USDA is providing $300 million through loan programs for 23 projects, while about $16 million will be granted to four projects. All of the grant projects come from Meat and Poultry Intermediary Lending Program.
• Premium Iowa Pork has finalized its $14 million purchase of a Minnesota pork processing plant that closed earlier this month after filing for bankruptcy
• The USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) has awarded a three-year, $510,000 grant to Purdue University to understand the nonpathogenic factors that influence thyroid hormones in pigs.
• California has modified the implementation date for Proposition 12 compliance from July 1 to Dec. 31, in an attempt to achieve a smoother transition for the entire pork value chain, including foreign trading partners. 

l   “Estimating the effectiveness of control actions on African swine fever transmission in commercial swine populations in the United States” is a study using extended PigSpread, a farm-level spatially-explicit stochastic compartmental transmission model incorporating six possible contamination routes including between-farm swine movements, vehicle movements, and local spread, to model the dissemination of ASF. The aim of the study was to estimate the effectiveness of control actions provided by the ASF national response plan. Link to the study:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167587723001265

San Francisco

            While the U.S., given the proximity of ASF outbreaks, is preparing to take actions and measures, in Europe the disease continues to spread. We wrote about the recent outbreaks affecting 3 large farms in Romania. Poland also has new outbreaks in the eastern region, affecting 4 farms with a total of over 2000 pigs. We got information about 2 outbreaks in Serbia-s Vojvodina region and Bosnia-Herzegovina has reported the country’s first ever African swine fever case close to the Serbian border. It’s obvious, that in some countries the ASF eradication plans do not work. This is also the main reason for Poland becoming Denmark’s second largest pig industry export market this year, with a total value of 221 million €.

            If ASF is not doing enough to reduce pig herds in Europe, politics can intervein. The Dutch government has more than 13 billion euros ready for the transition of agriculture in the draft agricultural agreement that was sent to the House of Representatives. More than half of the money (8.25 billion) was reserved for farmers who want to stop or move their farms! Much smaller amounts would go to investment aid for best available techniques (1.75 billion), ecosystem and landscape services and circular agriculture (1 billion), extensification (0.75 billion), innovation and (0.75 billion) and finally the implementation and supervision costs (1 billion). No wander that Farmers’ Defense Force will steam to The Hague next Thursday to take firm action during the debate on the agricultural agreement. They also accuse the minister of using “divide and conquer” techniques during the negotiations, by inviting the supermarkets and nature organizations to the main table, while sending the farmers to the side tables.

            The trendy approach of setting unrealistic targets for the pig industry is “successfully” copied also in the U.S. state of California, with Proposition 12. The Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) agreed that any product spoken for and in production prior to the July 1 deadline can be sold by the end of the year. This is an extension of time for the sale of non-compliant whole pork meat, provided that the meat is in the supply chain by July 1. Anything harvested after July 1, to be sold in California, will still have to be Proposition 12 compliant. California accounts for 15% of the pork consumption in the U.S., but for less, than 0,05% of the national hog production.

What will happen?

Nearly a ton of ready-to-eat pork rinds illegally imported from Guatemala are being recalled, according to the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).Guatemala is not eligible to import meat products into the United States, according to the federal agency. 

If pork produced under Prop. 12 becomes scarce in California, the market will become an obvious target for smuggled and/or illegally produced pork.

So, don’t ask for the origin of your pork dish, if you are going to San Francisco…

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

COUNTRY	PIG(EUR)	TREND	PIGLET(EUR)	TREND	OBSERVATION
GERMANY	2,43 HW		91/25 kg
NETHERLANDS	2,23-2,48 HW		79/25 kg
BELGIUM	1,82 L		76/20 kg
DANEMARK	1,85 HW		93/25 kg
FRANCE	2,279 HW
ITALY	1,79 L- 115 kg, 2,11 L-160kg,DOC		136/30 kg
SPAIN	2,02-2,05 L		95-105/20kg
PORTUGAL	2,8 HW
AUSTRIA	2,37 HW		100 /25 kg
POLAND	1,87-2,21 L		92-138/20-30 kg		Partner info; no quotation
CROATIA	2,10-2,6 HW		108-121/ 25 kg		Partner info; no quotation
SERBIA	2,08-2,13 L		115-131/ 25 kg		Partner info; no quotation
CZECH R.	2,36 – 2,49 HW		78-87/ 25 kg		Partner info; no quotation
SLOVAKIA	1,95 -2,1 L		108-119/25 kg		Partner info; no quotation
HUNGARY	1,98 – 2,18 L		108-118/ 25 kg		Partner info; no quotation
ROMANIA	2,05 – 2,27 L		108-118/25kg		Partner info; no quotation