Dear readers,

Good news first:

• The German Tönnies Group, together with the Chinese Dekon Group, has built a new production site for pork in China. The ultra-modern plant in the Sichuan region, built according to European production standards, will initially start with around 5,000 pig slaughters per day.
• The German government is seeking to revive market access for its agricultural products in China, with State Secretary Silvia Bender set to lead discussions during her visit to Beijing for the 10th German-Chinese Agricultural Week. Talks will focus on expanding access for pork, barley, and wheat, according to a statement from the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
• Italy’s Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty, and Forestry announced the reopening of the Canadian market to imports of Italian raw hams, including those from areas affected by African swine fever (ASF) in restriction zone 2. Italy is the first European country with ASF cases to receive approval from Canada for the export of products from these regions.
• The Aussie Plant Based Co. entered into liquidation last week. The Australian business failed for „cash flow reasons”.
• The U.S. District Court in Northern Florida has ruled against Upside Foods’ request for a preliminary injunction on that state’s law banning the sale, offer for sale, distribution or manufacture for sale of “cultivated meat”.
• The Brazilian Association of Pig Breeders (ABCS) started training sessions, called “Cesta do Sabre – Pig Festival”  with Swift, which is part of JBS and has a wide network of stores, offering a variety of fresh and frozen meats. In recent weeks, ABCS has conducted three training sessions with teams from more than 600 Swift stores, covering essential topics such as production, safety, health, flavor and preparation of pork.

Events calendar:

• The Hi Japan in Tokyo is an annual exhibition dedicated to showcasing innovative technologies and solutions in the realms of flavor, texture, and color of food products. This edition will take place on 3 days from Wednesday, 23. October to Friday, 25. October 2024.
• The Kaohsiung Food Show, Taiwan, is a food industry trade show that takes place annually in October. This year  The Kaohsiung Food Show will take place on 4 days from Thursday, 24. October to Sunday, 27. October 2024.
• PorkExpo Brasil & LATAM stands out as the most comprehensive and innovative event in the pig industry, bringing together pig farmers, industry leaders, rural extension workers, academics and researchers. This year it will include the 12th Latin American Congress of Pig Farming, the 2nd National Congress of Women in Pig Farming and the 2nd Pork Butcher’s Challenge, between October 23 and 24, 2024, in Recanto Cataratas Thermas Resort & Convention, Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná, Brazil.
  
  

Complete Control

The German politics going to support pork industry is something new, but will it be followed also by the support for the German pig farmers? For the moment we do not see any correlation between the two components, there is still tremendous pressure on the “animal welfare” and environmental conditions for the pig farmers.

The Dutch governmental coalition, resembling a lot to the German, has also put a lot of pressure on the farmers. But is their work still needed? The Dutch House of Representatives has launched the 2024 edition of the National Meat Survey. 2,500 Dutch people were interviewed about their perceptions of the meat industry. For 69% of them, the country needs a strong meat sector. According to the survey the vast majority of the Dutch population consumes meat, indicating that meat still plays  a central role in the diet of many Dutch people. Also, respondents who indicate that they do not eat meat are 5% of the total, while people often estimate that the prevalence of vegetarianism, pescatarianism and veganism in society is higher than it actually is. Although only 5% of respondents indicate that they do not eat meat, 79% of respondents expect this percentage to be significantly higher, indicating an overestimation of the actual number of vegetarians, pescatarians and vegans in the Netherlands.

For me, this is not exactly supporting the current political tendencies…

Meanwhile, in the strongly ASF affected Romanian pig sector things seemed to come under control. In the report of the Emergency Situation Committee issued on 10 of October 2024 there were only 24 outbrakes reported. Excellent news, until a new outbreak, declared last week, took out 24.000 pigs on a farm situated in a county with no official outbreak .

It does not seem that the authorities are under complete control…