Dear readers,

Let’s start with the good ones:

• The University of Maryland Medical Center announced that surgeons in Baltimore have transplanted the heart of a genetically altered pig into a man with terminal heart disease who had no other hope for treatment, It is the second such procedure performed by the surgeons. The first patient, David Bennett, 57, died two months after his transplant, but the pig heart functioned well and there were no signs of acute organ rejection, a major risk in such procedures. According to the news, the second patient is „recovering well and communicating with his loved ones”
• The Westfleisch Group and the Food-Gourmet-Gastronomy Union have reached an agreement. The first collective wage increase is scheduled to take place on October 1st. Negotiations have been ongoing since June.
• NS GROUP, a Mexican company, market leader in the construction of turnkey pig farms, and MIK INTERNACIONAL , a German company, world leader in the manufacture of plastic products for this sector, reach a Joint Venture agreement thatwill focus on the Mexican, Central American, Caribbean countries and Colombia markets.
• César López Amador, general director of the Organization of Mexican Pork Farmers (Opormex), stated that the organization is preparing to enter in debate with the 2024 presidential candidates, in order to understand and prepare for the political future influencing the industry. An initiative that should be inspirational for many other farmer organizations!
• A dozen Chinese importers and distributors are studying pork business opportunities in Spain after Interporc organized a mission that has allowed them to learn about the quality and efficiency of the pork production system. For 3 days, the Chinese professionals visited different pork facilities and attended a presentation in Barcelona.
• The General Administration of Customs in China announced that the country would begin importing pork from regions of Russia without African swine fever. Does anyone need more proof that admitting regionalization is a purely political decision in China?!

Events calendar:

• To maintain attention on the still-threatening spread of African Swine Fever, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has planned  an African Swine Fever Action Week between October 2 – 6. 
• First post-pandemic edition of the leading ANUGA KÖLN food industry fair is taking place between 7-11 of October, on the familiar place of Kölnmesse. Major players of the pork sector will be exhibiting or attending the event.

I’ll See You When You Get There

Pressure on the pig price continues to be high on the European markets, event more and more players from the farming and slaughtering segments agree on the fact that the market chains are abusing on their position and pushing supplier prices down, while shelf prices of pork are mostly steady. If the scope is to regain consumption, we would like to see some effort from their side too! It was also the topic of several meetings held last week in Bucharest, at the Food Expo.

While the consumers see almost no advantage of the continuous decrease of the farm gate price, the ASF is even more reducing the supply. Almost 34,000 pigs  have been culled for controlling the spread of ASF in the Lombardy region of Italy. In Croatia and neighboring Serbia the situation  is deteriorating rapidly.

Romanian authorities where hoping for the best, but is impossible to control ASF as long as there are almost 400 thousand backyard farms with pigs! For the industry, unfortunately, is no surprise that new outbrakes have been reported in finishing farms. The source seems to be a large sow farm, information still needs to be confirmed.

Upcoming elections in the Netherlands and Germany could also influence the future of the swine industry as the green power seems to fade, maybe next agriculture minster will not be a vegan…

This are some of the topics and questions I plan to debate with those attending Anuga this year. I’ll see you when you get there!

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

COUNTRY	PIG(EUR)	TREND	PIGLET(EUR)	TREND	OBSERVATION
GERMANY	2,25 HW		77,5/25 kg
NETHERLANDS	2,03-2,27 HW		61,5/25 kg
BELGIUM	1,6 L		54/20 kg
DANEMARK	1,65 HW		72,5/25 kg
FRANCE	2,0 HW
ITALY	1,98 L115kg, 2,3 L160kg, DOC		124/30 kg
SPAIN	1,8 -1,82 L		62-71/20kg
PORTUGAL	2,52 HW
AUSTRIA	2,22 HW		93/25 kg
POLAND	1,54-1,84 L		74-112/20-30 kg		Partner info; no quotation
CROATIA	2,05-2,25 HW		107 / 25 kg		Partner info; no quotation
SERBIA	2,42 L		110-120/ 25 kg		Partner info; no quotation
CZECH R.	2,25 – 2,33 HW		75,5-81,5/ 25 kg		Partner info; no quotation
SLOVAKIA	1,82 -1,88 L		97-102/25 kg		Partner info; no quotation
HUNGARY	1,84 – 1,98 L		97-102/ 25 kg		Partner info; no quotation
ROMANIA	1,65 – 1,95 L		97-102/25kg		Partner info; no quotation