Dear readers,

Some of the good news you will find in the price table, others are below:

• The head of the Ukrainian Meat Association, Nikolay Babenko, reported record profitability of the pork industry: “Before the war, production costs were $0.82-$0.96/kg, while the sales price ranged between $1.24-$1.37/kg. In 2022, when seaports were blocked, feed prices plummeted several times… Now, the price has reached $2.34/kg, while the production cost is as low as $0.55/kg.”
• The Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic  reported that the 18 applications in pig farming represent a total subsidy of EUR 371 million. In addition, the representatives of the Ministry also informed that they are preparing a round for the spring aimed at reducing NH3 emissions. The budget of this round should be more than 41 million € and it should be aimed at technologies that reduce emissions (slurry cooling, construction and reconstruction of fully and partially slatted floors with vacuum slurry removal system, air scrubbers and reconstruction of slurry management).
• In July of this year, the Netherlands imposed a plastic tax on disposable plastic food containers, which mandates customers to pay 25 cents for food packaging for takeout and delivery purposes. The move was aimed at encouraging consumers to reduce their consumption. But Notpla, a British startup which makes biobased seaweed-based packaging, has now become the first material to be recognized as truly plastic-free.
• By spring 2024, Premium Iowa Pork aims to re-open a shuttered HyLife plant in Windom, Minesota, that shut down abruptly last spring. Premium paid $13 million for the plant at auction and renovations are underway. Premium stakes its reputation on antibiotic-free pork. The town had funneled economic development funds to a related housing development, wastewater treatment capacity and schools. State aid came of about $14 million has been allocated to cover the city’s obligations. 
• Scientists from CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency and the US biotech firm MBF Therapeutics are teaming up produce a safe and effective vaccine against African swine fever. CSIRO is working to evaluate their novel DNA vaccine candidate against African swine fever. It’s estimated that a large-scale outbreak in Australia would cost the economy up to $2 billion.
• I ask several times: why meat industry isn’t fighting back on the negative campaigns? An example is listed below: the German Rügenwalder Müller sausage manufacturer strongly switches to veggie alternatives. Managing director Raufuss describes the sausage as the cigarette of the future and uses this slogan to promote negative advertising. Agricultural blogger Barkmann tweeted in response: “Raufuss implies that the current vegetarian sausages, which I would describe as miracles of food chemistry and food design, would be healthier than the tried and tested good sausage products made by butchers.” For this reason, he and other meat producers want to stop consuming the company’s products in the future.

Forever Young

We don’t get news about ASF outbreaks in China, but we can guess from the evolution in the neighboring areas. Hong Kong authorities ordered the culling of around 5,600 pigs in a herd after the ASF virus was discovered at Lau Fau Shan, rural Yuen Long area near the mainland China border.

Meanwhile in the once leading German pig market there is less and less support for the industry. While it was stated that animal welfare is a major concern and consumers are willing to pay more for it, Müller Group and Edeka-Südwest are canceling the payment of the 5,28 € bonus/pig, without prior notice to the suppliers. Meanwhile, according to Destatis, in the first three quarters of this year About 8.0% fewer pigs were slaughtered than in the same period last year. Also, from January to September, the slaughter pig population decreased by 2.83 million animals, or 8.0%, compared to the same period last year. This is a continuation of the production collapse. Between 2017 and 2022, the number of animals delivered to German slaughterhouses has already decreased by over 11 million. 

Is there anything to reverse the attitude against the pig industry? According to a recently published research an ingredient has been discovered in the blood of piglets that can rejuvenate the body. Injected into rats, it reversed the aging process of many organs. The authors of the study declare that if a similar effect could be achieved in humans, 80-year-olds could return to the condition of 25-year-olds.The rejuvenating therapeutic – nanoparticles taken from pig blood plasma called „E5” – was developed by Harold Katcher and Akshay Sanghavi from the American start-up company Yuvan Research.E5 was obtained from plasma of young pigs at the age of 6–7 months. At this age, the pig body is in peak condition – later in the animals’ life the aging processes begin. Are pigs the solution to become forever young?

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

COUNTRY	PIG(EUR)	TREND	PIGLET(EUR)	TREND	OBSERVATION
GERMANY	2,1 HW		70/25 kg
NETHERLANDS	1,98-2,12 HW		62/25 kg
BELGIUM	1,5 L		53/20 kg
DANEMARK	1,68 HW		72,5/30 kg
FRANCE	1,776 HW
ITALY	2 L115kg, 2,33 L160kg, DOC		114/30 kg
SPAIN	1,68 -1,70 L		65-74/20kg
PORTUGAL	2,35 HW
AUSTRIA	2,07 HW		90/25 kg
POLAND	1,54-1,88 L		71-113/20-30 kg		Partner info; no quotation
CROATIA	2,0-2,2 HW		95-100 / 25 kg		Partner info; no quotation
SERBIA	2,13 L		105-115/ 25 kg		Partner info; no quotation
CZECH R.	2,1 HW		69-74/ 25 kg		Partner info; no quotation
SLOVAKIA	1,67 -1,77 L		90-95/25 kg		Partner info; no quotation
HUNGARY	1,74 – 1,93 L		90-95/ 25 kg		Partner info; no quotation
ROMANIA	1,73 – 1,83 L		90-95/25kg		Partner info; no quotation