Dear readers,

Positive news of the pig industry first:

• While in Europe Hungary completely eradicated Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRSS), in the U.S. it is estimated to cause over 1,2 billion $ loss every year. NutriQuest has partnered with Modulant Biosciences to develop a breakthrough technology for control of PRRS and other swine diseases. Modulant Biosciences has discovered a small molecule capable of combating the PRRS virus. The partnership will accelerate the development of this promising drug candidate.
• The U.S. total frozen pork stocks in August were 205.767 thousand tons, just 85 tons  more than July but down 3% from a year ago. As market trend, pork bellies dropped 39%  from July to August. A year earlier, the decline was 30%.
• While African Swine Fever (ASF) is devastating the north of Italy, the European Commission has officially recognized Sardinia as free from ASF.

To have an idea of the efficiency of the Italian authorities(and the conduct of Italians towards rules) this marks the end of an outbreak of ASF genotype I, which first began in 1978 in Sardinia. And this is an island…

• EU Member States exported 2.36 million tons of pork in the first 7 months of this year, which is comparable to the previous year, with Spain remaining the largest EU exporter, exporting 756,000 tons and a market share of 32%. In the  2nd and 3rd place are the Netherlands and Denmark, which experienced slight decreases in exports, of 4% and 1% respectively. Germany ranked 4th , with a market share of 9%, an increase of approximately 17% in pork shipments to third countries from January to July 2024.
• Archer Daniels Midlands(ADM) announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Vandamme Hungaria Kft and its related entities, which operate a 700 metric ton/day non-GMO crush and extraction facility in Komárom, Hungary. ADM acquires the processing facility to meet growing European and Middle Eastern demand for non-GMO food and feed products.

Events calendar:

• The „Espacio Food & Service” is a leading trade fair in Chile’s food industry and a central meeting point for industry experts from across Latin America The fair will take place on 3 days from Tuesday, 01. October to Thursday, 03. October 2024 in Santiago.
• FoodTech in Herning, Danmark, is a pivotal meeting point for innovations in the food industry and the largest trade fair for Scandinavian food manufacturers and their suppliers in Northern Europe. It will take place on 3 days from Tuesday, 01. October to Thursday, 03. October 2024.
• You  can register until 4’th of October for the 5-th edition of Swine Day Romania, which will be held in Bucharest, between 18-19 of October.

Details at : https://amvsro.ro/evenimente/

Vienna Calling

Politics keep intervening in the livestock industry. As the Ministry of Agriculture announced in Copenhagen, Danish pig farmers will have to pay if they dock their animals’ tails. The increase in production tax is intended to create an incentive to forgo the procedure, the additional revenue will be used to support measures that reduce the risk of tail biting in pigs, such as more space or access to straw. Around 95 percent of all pigs will be affected, although routine docking is actually prohibited … Would this be the explanation for the sudden increase of 5,4 cents of 5,4 cents in the quotation of the pigs at the Danish Crown slaughterhouse, after 7 months of stagnation? Or it is “only” the changes in the cooperative’s management? Or is it the pressure of the farmers, due to the 12 cents higher quotation at the Tönnies owned Tican slaughterhouse? Maybe a little bit of everything.

While Sardinia got free of ASF, the north-Italian meat industry needs to pay more and more for the pigs, the Italian pig price became the highest in Europe and does not seem to decrease soon.

For many years the leader in terms of high pig price, Serbia has shown a dramatic decrease of the acquisition prices at the slaughterhouses. New ASF outbreaks have been detected in the weekend and could reverse the tendency.

I stated several times that the “green” parties where chosen as governing coalition members due to the fact that far right of far left parties where considered not frequentable. Starting as movements, the greens transformed themselves into parties by the 80’. It took some time to get into the parliament and into the government, but they soon became the natural alternatives to the extremist parties. It also took some time until the greens also became an extremist party, changing the shape of the economy, especially the energy and agriculture sectors. What happened in the regional elections in Germany was a warning signal. Even the far right parties will not govern, their huge increase in popularity and the disastrous results of the greens are connected. Now it’s Vienna calling!